Nightmare Before Chaotix
by Kaity the Chameleon
Summary: Charmy and Kaity are tricked into going to an abandoned house and find a ring of trees with different holidays on them. Now they have to sing and dance their way though the new world and help stop Oogie's Plans of taking over Halloween Town.
1. To Save a Life

**I know I have other stories to work on, but this is a graduation gift for my friend Shock Shark (Her stories are awesome, go read them!) Anyway, something I haven't done in a while; Copyrights! Kaity the Chameleon and Malice the Rabbit (C) moi, Charmy Bee belongs to SEGA, no matter what you crazy fangirls say, and all characters relating to _Nightmare Before Christmas_ are copyrighted to Tim Burton.**

**...Warning: the intro poem sucks**

Chapter 1: To Save a Life

_T'was a short time ago, sooner now than it seems_

_In a place that perhaps you've seen in your dreams._

_For the story you're about to be told,_

_Took place in the holiday worlds of old._

_A world two detectives found by mistake,_

_And would help to save from a vile fate._

It was just past ten thirty and the two oldest of the Chaotix Detective Agency still hadn't come back from searching for Malice. Kaity was on a couch facing the television with Charmy fast asleep against her shoulder. The Chameleon yawned, it had been a long day, and sleep was starting to take over the second youngest detective. Even the sounds of screams coming from the horror movie playing seemed to coax her into sleep. A ring suddenly erupted from the phone, waking the chameleon who quickly got up to answer.

"Chaotix Detective Agency, how may we be of service?" she asked automatically.

A familiar voice came from the other side of the phone. "Nothin' that can help me, but maybe you can help Cream." Malice chuckled.

"Malice." She growled into the phone, noticing Charmy had woken up and was listening.

"You bet 'cha, detective." The same chuckle, "Now listen, I brought Cream over to the Jensen's house. Ya know, that old one at the hill top?"

"The one that's supposed ta be haunted?"

"The same one."

"Okay…so why're ya tellin' me this?" Kaity asked, taking the moment to scan the room incase of an intruder or someone watching them.

"'Cause if you can get here in ten minutes, Cream is yours and I'll come quietly." The older rabbit said from the other end of the line."

"What!" The chameleon's mouth dropped open in shock

"You got ten minutes, detective, so I wouldn't waste a minute of it. See ya." The dial tone sounded in the detective's ear. Kaity shook her head _''E can't be serious…but then again, 'e's been known ta do crazy things…if 'e's tellin' the truth then we can get Malice behind bars and Cream safe at home…but what if it's a trap…?'_

**It's so short, bwaaaa! TT_TT ...Anyway, sorry about the shortness, I'll post the second chapter to make it at least a longer reading...thing...yeah...**


	2. The Jensen House

**Well, this one's a little longer =3 that's at least good...anyway, enjoy. Oh, I forgot to add in the last chapter; this is my first time making a Nightmare Before Christmas story and it's been a while since this idea was inspired, so NBC fans, go easy on me, okay? ^^; But let me know if there's something I can do to make Jack and the others more accurate when they make their apperances in the next chapter.**

Chapter 2: The Jensen House

Kaity looked over at Charmy for a second unsure as she placed the receiver on its cradle.

"We should wait for the others, but then again, we've only got a ten minute window…and if we wanna get Cream back, it'd probably be a good idea ta go." The chameleon locked her cool blue gaze on the youngest Chaotix member, hoping he would pick what the two would do. The small bee broke her gaze and stared at his feet, hovering only inches from the ground. He'd heard the whole call, and was still having doubts about both options.

"If we're gonna save Cream, we should go now." he said quietly after a moment's silence. The reptile nodded; saving an innocent life was more important than following orders.

"Alright, we'll leave a note and go, 'kay?" she said, already scribbling a quick note summarizing what had happened and where they would be. "Hopefully we're not gone long enough for them ta see this."

Charmy nodded, buzzing up to Kaity's height and flipping mid-air. "Ready? Let's go!" He didn't wait for the answer of his partner or the word of caution she would have thrown out. Instead, he rocketed out the door in excitement. Kaity quickly followed Charmy, running a little faster to keep up with the little bee in his excitement.

**OoOoO**

Charmy slowed as last, allowing the chameleon girl a break. Both looked up at the hill that stood before them; the Jensen's House. No one had lived in the house for years, and it had long since started to show it. The white paint had peeled almost completely off, a few windows had been broken and the yard was amazingly under-cared for, almost up to Charmy's waist. Plenty of stories surrounded the house, stories of murder, suicide, and hauntings. Both seemed a bit skeptical of going in, but for different reasons.

"…Charmy, do ya smell somethin'?" Kaity asked, suddenly straightening with caution. Said bee sniffed the air, it was a faint scent, but he knew he'd smelled it before…but what was it? "Be careful in here, Charmy. And stay close." Kaity cautioned.

"Okay." Was all the bee managed before the self-appointed leader of the two started up the hill. The smell was getting stronger, but Charmy still could not place it. With every step, the old house grew bigger and bigger, towering over the two detectives until it stood at its full height. _'As if it hadn't looked bad enough from the bottom of the hill...'_ Kaity thought. The porch looked old and broken, like the rest of the house. Charmy took a deep, calming breath as his friend grabbed his wrist gently and started forward onto the porch. It moaned under weight it hadn't felt in years. They approached the door and took instant notice of the door. It was still old, but in better shape than the rest of the house. The paint looked to have just started peeling and the knob had been polished to look like new. And that smell, it was stronger now. But neither could distinguish it without a doubt in their mind. After a moment's hesitation, the youngest detective took the knob in his hand and flung the door open with a quick movement.

The two detectives looked in; the house was completely empty save for carpeting on what they assumed was a living room floor in the next room and wallpaper from the last family living there. Kaity took a few cautious steps in, Charmy right next to her, hovering as quietly as he could through the air. The young detectives continued in, a foreboding feeling gripping both as they looked around for any sign of Malice.

"Down this hall." Charmy said, pointing down a dusty hallway.

"What makes ya think that?" the chameleon asked. The bee responded by showing her a playing card that had been lying on the ground.

The older detective shrugged, secretly feeling foolish for not spotting it earlier. "Alright, down there, then." Charmy eagerly took the lead down the hall. Both stopped at the third and final door of the hall, leaving only a dark end to the hall, another card sat at the foot of the old door.

"They're in here!" Charmy squealed quickly throwing open the door. The room itself was bare, like the rest of the house. As they stepped into the room, confused, the door suddenly slammed shut behind them and a pounding of footsteps quickly quieted as if someone was running. Charmy and Kaity jumped as the sudden sound, spinning around in the process.

Kaity was by the door in a few quick steps, grabbing the handle and pushing against the door with all her strength. "It's locked from the outside." She grunted, giving one final effort to open the door. She looked back at Charmy, who was trying in vain to open a window. It had been locked and nailed shut from the outside.  
"We're trapped!" he cried out, a note of fear hitting his voice. An explosion sounded from somewhere in the house, followed by the sound of crackling flames. It was a miracle their room hadn't been taken by the explosion.

Charmy made the connection first, "Malice planned this…that was gasoline we smelled." The door suddenly sprung open, as if a ghostly force had influence over even a locked door, a wall of flame eagerly ate up the area around the two and weakening the wooden interior around the Chaotix members. The young bee screamed and held tightly to the older detective, whom was already feeling the effects of the heat waves on her. Thick, black smoke filled the room, making the detectives choke and gasp for clean air.

A sharp _crack!_ came from above them, the she-ninja, with her heat-induced speed, leapt away from a falling beam. Charmy wasn't so lucky, the bee found himself pinned under the wooden beam, letting out a yelp of surprise as he hit the ground.

"Charmy!" the female chameleon gasped taking a step forward to help her tiny ally before another sharp _snap!_ pinned the chameleon as well, slamming her head on the hard ground in the process. The blaze around them grew bigger and hotter and blackness was already eating away at the sides of both detectives' vision. The beams were obviously too heavy for either one to even _try_ and lift, they could do nothing but hope their dumb luck as Chaotix detectives kicked in and they were found. Kaity looked over at Charmy, he wasn't too far away. She reached over and took the little bee's hand, hoping it would comfort him even the slightest bit. "Don't worry, Charmy. We're gonna be fine, alright?" the chameleon assured. Her attempts did quite the opposite; Charmy had hung around the female long enough to know she only bothered to comfort someone else was when she was worried too; he nodded, none the less. Charmy gripped his partner's hand tighter, feeling sudden lack of air, in a matter of moments, his vision was black and no other sense would respond.

Charmy woke up after what seemed not even a minute after collapsing, with renewed energy and strength. The little bee wriggled out from under the beam, finding a way he hadn't thought of before because of the panic, and buzzed over to Kaity, who was now also waking up. The bee tried and failed to lift the beam holding his friend down in the blazing room.

He looked at his friend and co-worker, still stuck on the ground. "Help me lift it." He grunted, trying again to lift the beam on his own. This time, Kaity put herself into the closest she could get to a push-up position under the weight of the beam, putting in just enough power to lift the beam enough for her to slip out. They had been lucky so far, the fire hadn't touched them and their escapes were pretty much painless and fast. But now they had to get out of a flaming room into a most likely flaming hallway to get out of the torched building. The door was still closed, but maybe it could be broken down. The two tested their theory by simultaneously ramming the door with all their might, landing in the hall.

"Well, that kinda worked." Kaity muttered, getting to her feet and grabbing Charmy. The fire still blazed around them, complete with smoke covering the hall they were running down. "When we get outside, stay quiet, alright?" the chameleon instructed immediately after going into a fit of coughing from the smoke. Charmy nodded, flying low to avoid the smoke in the air.

**Cliffhanger, whee! =D Okay, I _promise_ I'll be working on my other stories while I'm getting this one written...I just want this one done before SS graduates =3 so it'll be an on-time present...yeah, I'm done talking, sorry ^^;**


	3. This is Halloween

**Sorry this took so long, I sorta got stuck and then just decided to end it where it does =3 And I'll probably be using songs from the movie and from that PS2 game...I love thoes songs. ^w^ Anyway, enjoy.**

Chapter 3: This is Halloween

Both the bee and chameleon crashed through the back door, stopping only a moment to breath the fresh air outside. Charmy was the first to start up again; pulling Kaity toward the woods. "Come on, this way! Malice might still be around." The woods were dark and eerily quiet, but that didn't stop the two detectives from running through them. It didn't take long for the duo to finally come to a stop and rest, watching the old house burn behind them.

"'E tried ta kill us." Kaity scoffed, turning to Charmy. "Ya think 'e'd know by now that we're too lucky ta get killed like that." She continued in a walk deeper into the woods. "Anyway, where are we?" she asked.

"I dunno." Charmy shrugged, his face suddenly lighting up at a circle of trees shadows up ahead. "Hey! Look at that!" He cried, buzzing forward toward them and getting the plesant surprise of finding pictures on the trees.

"Yeah, trees. Whoopie." Kaity remarked, glancing around at them.

"Looks like there's doors on them." Charmy said, buzzing over to a tree with a pumpkin on it. He looked around at the Christmas tree, Easter egg, turkey, heart, shamrock, and firecracker designs. "Let's open one!" He advised, grabbing the knob of the pumpkin door and flinging it open. The teen chameleon walked over and glanced in, partially shocked that it actually had been a door, but not surprised it lead to a hollow trunk.

"Nothin' here, Charmy," she mused, turning back to the slightly upset bee, "Now let's get back ta the Agency before they figure out we're gone." A sudden black wind halted the chameleon girl's plan, swirling around both bee and chameleon, suddenly sucking them toward the tree like a vaccum until both were flipped inside. As Charmy fell down into the trunk, he managed to fliphimself upright and watched the pumpkin door swing shut itself and leave the duo in total darkness.

**OoOoO**

_"Charmy..."_ Came a far-away sounding voice. _"Charmy, ya alright? Come on, get up."_ the bee being called suddenly realized who the voice belonged to and tried to open his eyes. Lucky for him, his trademark helmet protected his head from most the the falls damage. The six-year-old struggled to right his vision and found his partner for the moment sitting over him. "Ya alright?" she asked as Charmy sat up and rubbed his head.

"Yeah, I think." he answered, looking around at the grave yard setting they had been dumped into. "Where are we?" he asked.

The chameleon shrugged, "Heck if I know." she answered, standing up and waiting for Charmy to do the same. "I heard somethin' down that way, I'm guessin' we aren't too far from a town or somethin'." Kaity reported, gesturing toward a dirt path that look sufficently used.

Charmy buzzed into the air but restrained himself from doing a flip. "Then let's go!" He sang, flying in the direction his companion had pointed, with her following behind several steps.

A quiet, spooky melody started playing as the two made their way down the path, "There, music, we gotta be close." the oldest said, continuing their walk.

shadows cast themselves onto the graves and sang.

_Boys and girls of every age_  
_Wouldn't you like to see something strange?_

_Come with us and you will see_  
_This, our town of Halloween_

As the bee and chameleon passed by an iron fence, a patch of pumpkins joined the song, causing a double-take from both detectives.

_This is Halloween, this is Halloween_  
_Pumpkins scream in the dead of night_

_This is Halloween, everybody make a scene_  
_Trick or treat till the neighbors gonna die of fright_  
_It's our town, everybody scream_  
_In this town of Halloween_

"Sounds like it's coming from in there." Charmy said, pointing to an open gate, which did have the same music playing louder, but the verses more distant as if coming from behind closed doors.

_I am the one hiding under your bed_  
_Teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red_

_I am the one hiding under yours stairs_  
_Fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair_

The music suddenly rose again, unnerving both detectives when nothing could be seen around them that could be making the noise. "Maybe it's just a boom box or somethin'." the older detective suggested.

_This is Halloween, this is Halloween_

_Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!_  
_In this town we call home_  
_Everyone hail to the pumpkin song_

Charmy yelped and jumped back at the apperance of four vampires, all varying in size and height, sung the verses. "Not a boom box!" the little bee cried out, clinging to his companion.

"Chaos, chill out, Charmy. They're people in costumes." Kaity said rolling her eyes. She pulled herself and Charmy out of the way as a herse suddenly came rolling by with a parade of people, no, _creatures_, following. A person on top, looking more human than any other, had a smile plastered on his face from the roof of the vehicle. "There, see? Normal people, we can just ask that-" She stopped when the person's head spun a 360, showing for a moment a more pale, depressing face on the other side.

_In this town, don't we love it now?_  
_Everybody's waiting for the next surprise_

"...Alright, so 'e's not normal..." Kaity said a hint of shock in her voice from the head turning.

_Round that corner, man hiding in the trash cam_  
_Something's waiting no to pounce, and how you'll..._

A harequin-looking creature sprung up from a near-by trash can, joined by a werewolf in a lunberjack shirt and a man who looked like he was melting. Charmy screamed and clung to the other detective, who twitched from the sudden contact.

_Scream! This is Halloween_  
_Red 'n' black, slimy green_

_Aren't you scared?_

Charmy nodded as if the question had been directed at him, gripping his friend tighter. "Yeah." he looked toward a well where voices suddenly echoed the next lyrics.

_Well, that's just fine_  
_Say it once, say it twice_  
_Take a chance and roll the dice_

A pair or witches, one tall and thin, the other short and fat, flew from the well on their broomsticks, heading almost directly at the duo. Charmy screamed again and burst suddenly into tears or fear.

_Ride with the moon in th_-

That had been enough; Kaity swung one foot up just as the first witch passed, hitting the second broomstick and catapulting the little witch into the thin one, causing a sudden crash. The chameleon girl picked up the broomsticks, throwing one at the suddenly approaching demon, werewolf and melting man effectivly knocking the three to the ground, and twirled the other one, ready to fight who or whatever would try next. "Stay behind me, Charmy." She growled, glaring down the growing group of creatures that approached the Mobians slowly, all snarling, growling, hissing and other forms of intimidating sounds. The chameleon only got a quick glimpse of the supposedly normal guy; his head was that pale unhappy face but wasn't part of the mob at all.

The creatures began to spread out their crowd; soon enough, they'd have them both trapped, and then-

"_**Stop!**_" A voice, loud and authoritive, broke through the crowd. The creatures parted donw the center, revealing a tall, thin skeleton man dressed in a black pinstripe suit. the skeleton strolled forward in a casual way, his voice more friendly and welcoming than it had been a moment ago; "Friends, friends, please, settle down." He started, looking around at the creatures who listened intently to his every word, "You were merely caught off guard, nothing to act in such a way over." There was nothing scolding in his tone, more like it had been a simple mistake on their part. "These visitors," He gestured to the two, "Have the power to frighten us; the M_asters_ of Terror, surely they should be welcomed to our town?" The crowd mumbled amongst themselves, most sounding to be in agreement from what the two detectives could pick up.

The skeleton stopped a foot or so from the two, wary of the protective chameleon with her glare and vice on the broomstick. He turned back to his audience; "Should we not give them a fightful welcome?" He added, getting various howls and noises of agreement. It all sounded creepy. The skeleton man turned back to Charmy and his living shield, extending a hand carefully to the duo with a friendly smile on his skull. "I'm Jack. Jack Skellington." he said, shaking Kaity's hand once she reluctantly dropped the broom to shake it. She could feel all the joints of his fingers and hand, "Welcome to Halloween Town."

"Name's Kaity the Chameleon." the Mobain girl answered, she gestured to the bee behind her, "This is Charmy Bee."

"Hi..." Charmy said meekly, waving a hand at Jack, noticing the crowd going their seperate ways and talking about the previous events and becoming bold enough to step out from behind the older detective. "What's Halloween town?" he asked.

**Weirdness begins, yay! =D Any hard-core fans of NBC are welcome to help me improve Jack and the others' personalities and...other quirks =3**


	4. Real World Ideas

**Yay, I finally got inspiration for this again!**

Chapter 4: Real World Ideas

After it had been explained to the detectives what Halloween town was, it seemed suddenly interesting; a world that created Halloween. Jack gave the duo a tour of Halloween town's town square and invited them to stay at his house, a tall house protected by a gate with a skeleton-shaped lock, and walls of stone. The two detectives skeptically accepted the offer after the skeleton man had _insisted_ they stay. There wasn't anything unusual about the first floor, if you lived in Halloween Town, that is. It was the second floor that interested the bee and chameleon; the thin, winding stairs led the three up to a large space with several shelves of books on a number of interesting subjects; though _The Art of Taxidermy_ wasn't about to be pulled off its dusty shelf to be read any time soon. There was another empty cabinet with five shelves, a table cluttered with several beakers, test tubes, chemicals and a glass jar containing a strange green goo. The room also had an electric chair, a bed that seemed small for a skeleton of Jack's height, and a wardrobe which Charmy and Kaity found contained a number of black pinstripe suites, a white tuxedo, a long sleeping gown and hat, and an outfit made to look like Santa's Claus', though it appeared it had gone through quite a bit of abuse.

"Wow. These are really tall" Charmy mused, measuring the sleeve of a pinstripe suit to his own arm. the little bee pulled out the Santa outfit, his features suddenly glowing, "Do you dress up as Santa during Christmas?" He asked.

Jack looked at the little be for a moment, a confused look placed on his face. His eyes suddenly seem to widen, as if an idea had sparked in his mind, "Oh! You mean Sandy! Well, it was actually a one time thing, you see..." He explained, his tone suggesting he would rather keep the past behind. Charmy waited a few moments more before letting the subject slide and closed the wardrobe doors.

Kaity had occupied Jack and Charmy's conversation time by examining every bit of the room, her light blue eyes stopped on a wicker basket fitted with a pillow, almost like a pet's bed. She squinted slightly, either her eyes were playing tricks or there was some ghostly creature lying in the basket. She took a few steps forward, now she could clearly see something was in there; it's body looked similar to a drooping rag, it's head like a curved triangle with a glowing Jack-O-lantern as a nose and two ears that also appeared to look like limp rags. _'Is it a...dog...?'_ Kaity asked herself, taking another step closer. The creature suddenly lifted his head and stared directly at Kaity, who jerked back in surprise.

The creature yipped happily, getting Jack's attention. The skeleton smiled, "Ah, I see you've met Zero."

The creature, Zero, floated up from its basket and licked Jack's boney face, yipping again in a happy tone. "Zero...? Ya mean that's yer pet?" Kaity asked.

Jack scratched Zero's head and nodded toward Kaity, "Yes, he's been my dog for years." Zero's tongue hung from his mouth, panting loudly as it's expression asked from more petting. Jack gently waved his pet away and led his house guests down stairs once again. The tall skeleton sat the detectives down at his kitchen table, each chair somehow having an angry or scary expression. "I know you've had a long day," Jack started in the same tone he had welcomed the two to Halloween town with, "but I was wondering if I could ask you two a question or two."

Charmy and Kaity glanced at one another; Jack _had_ saved them from being attacked by other citizens of Halloween town and opened his home to them, what was the harm in a couple questions?

"Sure." Charmy answered, nodding his head for a visual answer.

Jack's white skull seemed to take up a happy glow, "As I've told you, we create Halloween." He explained, "And we spend the entire year preparing, but as of late things have been-" He paused, trying to find the correct word, "Bland." he decided finally, "And some time ago, I did shake things up, but it didn't end too well..." He paused a moment, leaving the detectives to swap questioning glances. "However, I did love the change for once, but things went back as they were not long after and I was thinking perhaps you could explain how your world celebrates Halloween." The King of Halloween Town watched Charmy's eyes suddenly glow with things to tell and a wicked smirk on the older detective told him not everything would be nice.

Charmy was the first to start talking, hovering in the air and speaking quickly in his excitement, "Kids dress up in costumes and run around neighborhoods and ring doorbells and then yell 'Trick or Treat!' and then the adults give them candy!" Charmy stopped to breathe, letting Jack take in the details of what he had just heard, "But girls mostly dress up in boring costumes like princesses and stuff, boys have a bunch of cool stuff like vampires, mummies, racecar drivers, ninjas, and a bunch of other cool stuff!" Charmy stopped again to breathe, giving Kaity enough time to take over.

"Yeah, there's trick-or-treatin', and there's parties people throw. But the best part is scarnin' people." Her wicked smirk widened, seeing Jack's sudden interest.

"Scare people how, exactly?" He asked, unable to help himself from leaning forward with interest.

"Well, there's plenty of ways; one time I got a costume with that looked kinda like a werewolf and had one of my friends fix it up ta a more skin-tight costume and I found some fake teeth and claws and glued 'em on." The chameleon grinned, as if it were a fond memory, "Then I hid in the bushes by the Agency and whenever some poor sucker got close, I'd jump out snarlin' and growlin' and chase 'em 'round 'till they dropped their candy and ran." The chameleon shook her head happily, "I got a great haul that year." she mused.

Jack seemed as interested as when the conversation began, scribbling notes on a pad of paper. "And how else?" He asked.

Charmy jumped in this time, "People use these really cool smoke machines that make fog and they have all these cool noise-making things and sometimes they run around with fake chainsaws to scare people." Jack took quick, short hand notes of the new ways.

"And these parties you mentioned about, what happens there?" He asked, glancing up only for a moment. Both detectives went off on stories about Halloween parties, though Charmy's seemed to be more child-friendly that Kaity's.

Jack finished writing, his skeleton grin wider than it had been before, "Excellent, I'm sure these ideas will make this year the-" Jack paused as three young voices suddenly floated into the room, singing.

_La lala lalala lalalalala,_

_Hail to Mister Oogie, Put Jack to the test_

_Keep him guessing all the time, never let him rest_

Jack's grin turned suddenly to a scowl directed at the street the song was coming from. "Boogie's Boys..." he muttered quietly, striding to the door in only three long steps and swung open the door. Kaity and Charmy looked at one another curiously, immediately going to the nearest window to look at 'Boogie's Boys'

**And thoes three will be in the next chapter, along with actually getting this story started. Yay. The song in this chapter is actually from the PS2 Nightmare Before Halloween game, so if you want to look up the whole song, you could probably look it up on Yuotube or rent/buy the game to hear it =D It's called 'Rooftop Rumble'**


	5. Boogie's Boys

**Haha! two chapter updates in one week (Sort of)! Awesomness! Anyway, after this chapter, things should start kicking off in the story, but I'll probably be trying to get more done with _Chaos Beyond Chaos_ and _OC Heroes_ first and foremost...since they _really_ need to get done. =w= Also; Lock, Shock and Barrel might be a little OOC, I haven't had much to use to figure out their personalities, so if you find something wrong with one of them, just comment about it to me so I can fix it =3 T'ank you. I'll stop talking now.**

Chapter 5: Boogie's Boys

From what the detectives could see, there were three; the smallest one in a skeleton costume with a round skeleton mask to complete the look and a large patch of green hair. What was strange to the detectives was that he was sitting in a claw-footed bathtub while his companions stood against Jack on the broken, cobblestone street just outside the closed gate. Another of the trio was dressed as a little devil; his mask was as red as his costume with a wide, toothy grin, though it was pulled up, revealing the white-skinned child under it, his lips a light blue and deep circles colored under his eyes.

"Look at his hair." Charmy whispered, pointing to the two thick clumps of hair that went up to form devil horns on the boy's head.

"Forget the hair, check out the tail; it's movin'." Charmy looked and found the statement was true; as much as it appeared as a costume, the bee couldn't help wonder what made the tail wave and twitch as it did.

The third of Boogie's Boys was a girl; she was dressed as a purple witch and appeared to be the oldest of the three and the boss. Her hair was black and wiry, her mask was a frowning pea green witch with a long nose to match its owner's. She also had removed her mask, showing she was just as pale as her devil friend and had blue circles around both eyes, and thin blue lips.

"Oogie is gone for good. You three can stop pretending." Jack said crossly, catching the attention of the detectives who had not been paying attention to the conversation up until that point.

"That's what _you_ think, Jack." The witch said coyly. Putting both arms behind her back as if to hide a secret.

"Yeah, Jack, you don't know Mister Oogie is back and is gonna take revenge on you!" The skeleton boy cried excitedly, flipping up his mask and pointing an accusing finger at Jack. Charmy and Kaity weren't surprised that the boy had ghost white skin and similar blue lips and ringed eyes, but it startled them that he didn't look much different with the mask on.

"Shut up!" the witch hissed at the skeleton, smacking him in the head with her mask.

Jack's head cocked to one side slightly, perhaps he could pry a bit more out of them. "Everybody knows he's gone. I was there when he was defeated. Twice." Jack insisted.

The skeleton rubbed his head, shooting the witch a nasty glare then turned his attention back to Jack, "Oh yeah? We sewed him back together, so Mister Oogie is gonna take Halloween Town for sure this time."

"Barrel, shut up!" the devil hissed, Whacking the smaller child, Barrel by name, in the head.

Barrel rubs his head again. "But you said we were coming to gloat. Shock did too!" he pointed at the witch.

"Yeah, but _I_ know how to keep a secret, that's why we said _you_ can't talk, dummy." Shock snapped, shoving Barrel over. A hollow _clang!_ came from inside the tub, suggesting that Barrel had hit his head. Shock and the devil boy giggled hysterically, jumping into the bathtub after their smaller friend.

Kaity and Charmy were once again startled by the trio when the claw-footed bathtub started walking away, waddling from side to side as the little devil and Shock looked back casually at Jack. "And Mister Oogie is ready for you this time Jack, so you won't be so lucky this time!" the devil shouted as they got farther from Jack's house.

**OoOoO**

Jack stood at the door quietly with a stern look on until the three were out of sight and their singing could no longer be heard. The Pumpkin King closed the door, turning to continue his conversation with his guests. He was surprised to find the two up and almost immediately behind him. The skeleton was immediately bombarded with questions.

"Who're they? 'Sides 'Boogie's Boys'?" Kaity asked.

"How come that one could move his tail? Isn't that just a costume?" Charmy butted in.

"And who's this 'Oogie' guy? 'E some kinda bad guy 'round 'ere?"

"And why were they singing? and how come there was a girl? I thought they were all boys."

Charmy's mouth opened for another question, but was stopped as Jack quickly got to answering the questions; "Well, it's a bit difficult to explain. Sit down and I'll answer all your questions." he said politely, gesturing back to the table, which both detectives retreated back to quickly; eager to get their questions answered. Jack sat down in his seat and took a breath and began explaining. "The three you just met were Lock, Shock, and Barrel. Most of the time they're called 'Boogie's Boys', the three work for-"

"So, hang on, the devil kid is Lock, right?" Kaity interrupted, getting a nod from Jack.

"Yes. the devil is Shock, the witch is Shock and Barrel is the younger boy. They work for Oogie Boogie." He paused when Charmy chuckled quietly and repeated 'Boogie', setting himself into another small fit of giggles. "And I suppose he could be considered a 'bad guy' in Halloween Town; he's tried twice to wreck things, luckily he was stopped both times before things became irreversible."

"So, what kinda monster is Oogie?" Kaity asked, ignoring Charmy's quiet giggling as the name came back again.

Jack was silent a moment, as if he the question puzzled him. "I'm not sure what you would call him," he admitted, "If you ever have the misfortune of meeting him, I'm sure you could decide for yourself."

Charmy had finally calmed himself enough to ask; "How come there's a girl if they're called 'Boogie's Boys'? And how does Lock get his tail to move?" Charmy asked.

Again, Jack seemed puzzled by these questions. "I'm not sure...I've never really thought anything unusual of it."

"But is he really back?" The little bee questioned

"I'm not sure; Oogie was brought back before by being sewed back together, so it isn't impossible for him to be brought back again."

**OoOoO**

Lock, Shock and Barrel arrived back at their tree house, Lock and Shock didn't seem the least bit happy with the smallest of their group. "Next time we're putting a trap over your mouth." Shock said, demonstrating by snapping a bear trap at Barrel. "I told you not to talk."

"Why can't I ever talk?" Barrel complained. "Mister Oogie likes me more, anyway."

"He does not!" Lock hissed, "And you talk too much."

"Do not!"

"Yeah-huh!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Shut up!" Shock hissed, silencing the two boys. "Jack might know, but we still have Mister Oogie's plan."

"That Barrel didn't blab out." Lock said matter-of-factly. The devil boy's eyes narrowed at an exceptionally large beetle on the ground, "Mister Oogie might be hungry." he said, quickly pouncing on the bug as it began to skitter away as if it knew what cruel fate that was about to befall it.

Shock quickly snatched the bug up in a cage, snapping the door locked. "Got 'im!" she cackled triumphantly. the purple clad witch walked across the room quickly and, with a practiced hand, tossed the cage down a shoot designed to look like their master's mouth. A few clanks and a vacuum sound later, a satisfied burp echoed up the tunnel.

**_Now_ things can start moving along =D ...damn, Sally hasn't made an apperance yet...D=**


	6. What's Yet to Come?

**Yeah, sorry D= I'm trying to get my other stuff done, but I'm not getting inspiration for them...**

Chapter 6: What's Yet to Come?

Sally Finkelstein, a tall, pretty creature that looked like a living rag-doll with skin tinted blue, long red hair and was stitched in multiple places on her person as well as her clothing, looked longingly out her wide window into the outside world, there had been such a fuss made earlier, she was curious to find what it was about. Her creator, Doctor Finkelstein, had woken up from his latest dose of Deadly Nightshade and had once again condemned her to her room. Though she and Jack had been getting closer and closer since the episode with Sandy Claws, that didn't stop the limitations that had been put on her.

The ragdoll sighed and gingerly plucked a dead flower from her vase, smiling at the wilted plant. "Oh Jack..." she started in a dream-struck tone, cutting herself off as the room suddenly began to spin. The hand dropped the flower, pressing against her head, "Oooh..." She groaned quietly, stumbling away from her window and to her low-set bed; making it just in time to lie down before she felt the world lift away and her vision faded to black.

**OoOoO**

Charmy and Kaity questioned Jack until both had run out of questions and were led back upstairs to their own rooms to sleep in for the night. "I'll just let you two get comfortable while I make us all something to eat." Jack said in his usual cheery tone, turning crisply and heading back down the winding stairs with Zero at his heels.

Charmy looked around his room; much bigger than his room at home. The bed was canopied with black velvet and covered in a black comforter among other black bed materials, the furniture seemed to resemble the rest of Jack's home; furniture that would either make you shiver or give you the impression it was angry at you, making the bee hesitant to sit in the chair in the room or look at himself in the standing mirror hanging on the wall. The corners of the room were thick with cobwebs and little spiders, making Charmy shiver.

Charmy was still looking around the room when Kaity walked in, a familiar look on her face. "So, we gotta get outta here," She started, "But if that Oogie guy Jack was talkin' 'bout is loose, we outta stick 'round a bit ta keep 'im in place."

Charmy nodded, "Yeah, besides, this place is cool."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Hey Kaity? What do you think skeletons eat?"

For a moment Kaity was silent, then Charmy's meaning dawned on her and she shrugged, "I dunno, maybe like what corpses eat."

Charmy was almost afraid to ask, "What do corpse's eat?" he asked cautiously.

Kaity grinned, "Ever hear the Hearse Song?" She asked, grinning wider when the bee shook his head. She began reciting, "'Yer stomach turns a slimy green, and pus pours out like whippin' cream. Ya spread it on a slice of bread, and that's what ya eat when yer dead.'"

Charmy made a face, "Gross!" He cried.

Kaity's only reaction was her usual laugh. "Then again, that's just a theory. Could be somethin' else...I mean, it's a town of monsters, nothin' they eat can really be normal."

"I guess you're right..." Charmy said. Getting the final word as Jack's voice came from below, calling the mobians down for whatever Halloween Town food he had made.

**OoOoO**

There were only flashes of images and phantom sounds Sally could remember. One sound being Oogie's evil laugh accompanied by the image of six prison cells, four prisoners she didn't recognize, but two she knew; Sandy and Jack.

Another image of two creatures she also didn't recognize in the same area, both looking fiercely at Oogie.

"Let 'em go or else." the creature with a curly tail had threatened.

"Or else what?" Oogie scoffed, grinning his horrible grin at the two. The smaller creature's reply was lost in the haze as the next image came. This one filled with the crackling of fire, smoke and terrified shouting; Sally could recognize the town fountain and many of the citizens in panic over something she couldn't see.

The image and noise faded, making way for a new one. The bright orange on the side of her vision told her the new location was most likely the pumpkin patch. Jack and the creatures from her other foresight lay on the ground, looking battered, tired, and perhaps unconscious. She saw her own arms on Jack's back, shaking him hastily. "Jack! Jack, please wake up! We need you, Jack! Please!" she heard herself shout, her voice tight and shrill.

One final image came to her, more blurry than the others, but clear enough to know what was there; silence and gravestones.

Sally's eyes opened once again, vertigo struck her as she sat up on her bed. She waited for the feeling to pass before the premonitions came back to her conscious mind. "Oh no..." She breathed quietly, hurrying quickly to her window, "I have to warn Jack." The ragdoll hurriedly opened the window and threw herself out without hesitation, waiting for the impact of the ground.

**OoOoO**

Kaity and Charmy settled into their angry-faced chairs and looked and the pile of food in front of them; it looked similar to spaghetti and meatballs, except the meatballs were eyeballs and the pasta's color varied between ivory and a grayish-yellow. The detectives looked skeptically at one another; Jack seemed to have no problem with the food...then again, he was a skeleton. The six-year-old was the first to take a bite of the concoction, careful to avoid adding any eyeballs to it, quietly shuttering suddenly. When nothing happened to Charmy, Kaity braved a bite and had the same reaction.

"How do you like it?" Jack's tone hinted with concern over their reactions. He wasn't familiar with the diet of people from their world

"Well...Uh...What is it?" Kaity asked, skating around Jack's question.

This seemed to make Jack smile and was happy to give an answer; "It's worms and eyeballs."

Charmy swallowed, forcing his food back down to his stomach, "These are really long worms." He commented.

"Oh, they aren't the kind you find in the ground; the Corpse family explained that they're made from raw meat and some time in the large intestine...I can never recall what they're called."

The realization hit the older detective faster. "Y...Ya mean tapeworms?" she asked.

Jack nodded quickly his skeleton grin wide, "Yes! That's the name exactly."

The mobians looked at one another, both muzzles had gone pale and even a touch green. Jack frowned at the reaction once again. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

Kaity retched, a hand quickly covering her mouth, "Yeah...I'm gonna hurl..." she said weakly, moving from her chair so fast it skitted on its back two legs and toppled to the ground.

"Me too." Charmy groaned, quickly flying after his friend, his chair only scooting across the ground as the bee kicked off it.

"Oh dear..." Jack said one boney hand raising to where his chin would be, as if wondering what caused such a reaction. The skeleton stood and followed after his guests, finding them both in the cold, nearly dark night, bent over on the ground vomiting. Jack stood tentivly by the open door for a moment as other citizens of Halloween Town had stopped to see what had happened, then Jack meekly descended the stairs, catching the attention of the others.

"Why are they throwing up?" Corpse kid asked from atop his father's shoulders.

"Perhaps they're just homesick." The tall witch suggested, "I have just the thing to cure any kind of sickness." Other questions suddenly rose, along with fond comments about other sicknesses.

"Now, now," Jack started, making a shooing motion with his hands at the crowed, "They're not accustomed to our food, probably just a bad reaction." He explained, not bothering to mention the worst of it hadn't come until they had been told what they were eating. Jack's simple statement seemed to put the crowd's questions to rest and quietly went back to their daily life.

All except Sally; who walked closer to the closed gate, wrapping on hand gingerly around a bar. "Jack..." She started quietly, seeing the skeleton's eyes light at her appearance.

"Ah, Sally. How wonderful to see you again." He said, hurrying to unlock the gate to allow her in. "I'm sorry about the trouble I got you in with Dr. Finkelstein."

Sally shook her head, "No, no. That was nothing. But listen, Jack, I had a vision. Something terrible is going to happen."

Jack smiled, "Something terrible? How lovely." His smile faded when he noted the worried expression on Sally's face. "You mean terrible terrible?" he asked finally, getting a nod from Sally. "Oh dear...what did you see?"

The ragdoll chanced a glance at the two Mobians, who were already on their feet after burying what had been the contents of their stomachs. "You and these two get into some kind of trouble with Oogie. You were kidnapped, Jack. Locked in a cell." Her eyes saddened, "And-and you were laying in the pumpkin patch, I think, and I couldn't wake you up...and then-" she choked on her words, tears starting to roll down her eyes. "I saw gravestones."

Charmy and Kaity glanced at each other questioningly. Jack put a hand on Sally's shoulder, and spoke in a soothing tone, "There, there, Sally...maybe none of it will come true." he said.

"But it did with Sandy." She exclaimed, "I...I'm worried for you, Jack. Please be careful."

Jack smiled reassuringly, "I will." Sally's only response was a smile. Jack's seemed to suddenly remember the other two standing there, "Oh, how rude of me; Sally, this is Charmy Bee and Kaity the Chameleon. Charmy, Kaity this is my dear friend, Sally." he introduced.

"Hello." Sally said in a polite tone.

Both mobians were silent, suddenly aware that Sally was stitched together. They quickly shook the feeling off and greeted Sally as well.

"So, what's this vision ya were talkin' 'bout?" Kaity asked.

"Are you physco?" Charmy asked.

"It's 'psychic'" Kaity corrected the bee.

Sally chuckled at the bee's mistake, patting him on the head; such odd-looking creatures. "I wouldn't say psychic, but I do occasionally had visions when something terrible is going to happen." She explained. "And I'm not sure what my visions mean yet, but I'm sure they're nothing good...epically if they have to do with Oogie."

**Yay, foreshadowing. I almost have the next chapter done, then maybe a few song chapters, so beware. XD Then I may try and break off this one for a while to finish up _OC Heroes_ and get to a good spot in _A Chaos Beyond Chaos_. :3 ...Also, I'm not entirely sure who wrote the Hearse Song, but it's real and you should look it up :D *brick'd***


	7. Fitting In

**Yeah, I can't stop updating this ^^; sorry...But I swear, I'll get everything else done too!**

Chapter 7: Fitting In

The next morning, Kaity and Charmy skipped breakfast, after their short meal of tapeworms and eyeballs the night before, they weren't sure their stomachs could hold down any food the town had to offer. And after the events of that same night and some explaining by the two mobians, Jack understood completely but couldn't help feel bad for the two; he knew people from their world needed to eat to stay alive. So what would happen to these two if they stayed too long?

The king of Halloween Town took the two detectives around town, introducing them to the monsters they recalled from the day before when they had arrived and almost started a fight. Though they were surprised to see the vampires out in daylight, all four of them politely introduced themselves according to rank of age then excused themselves, explaining that the daylight was getting too bright for them.

"Speaking of daylight," Charmy whispered to Kaity, "Did you see what the sun looks like?" he asked.

"Nah. I don't make a habit of starin' at the sun." Kaity replied. "What'd it look like?"

"Like a giant Jack-o-lantern." the bee explained, smiling slightly when his chameleon friend suddenly found she had no choice but to see for herself.

"Cool." she mused quietly.

Next they stopped to see the two witches Kaity had knocked off their brooms. They owned a shop not too far off from the town fountain.

"Hello, Jack," The tall witch said, getting a dreamy look to her eyes, along with the smaller witch, "how horrible to see you today."

"It's horrible to see you both as well. You both look ghastly today." Jack said in a polite town and flashing the witches his signature smile. Both witches cackled in a way that remained Charmy of school girls. Very demanded, old, and ugly school girls. The bee threw a questioning glance at Kaity, as if she could answer why they were all responding so well to the comments being made. The teen chameleon girl only shrugged, apparently wondering the same thing.

"Oh, Jack..." the little witch said, a blush running over her cheeks.

"I think they're flirtin'" Kaity whispered, getting a hysterical chuckle from the six-year-old.

The chuckle seemed to remind Jack of the two following him around. "Oh, how rude of me; this is Charmy Bee and Kaity the Chameleon." He said, pointing out each mobian respectively.

"Hi!" Charmy waved happily. Somehow quickly calming him mirth.

"'Sup?" Kaity greeted with a slight nod of her head. "Sorry 'bout knockin' ya off yer brooms."

"No harm done." the tall witch replied, moving her hand in a shooing motion as if the whole situation had been nothing more than an annoying fly.

"Hey, is that candy?" Charmy asked, his eyes suddenly glowing as he pointed behind the witch's counter at a bowl containing a variety of small, colored packages.

"Yes, they are. Would you like some?" the little witch asked, fetching the bowl off the shelf after the bee nodded his head eagerly.

Kaity quickly seized Charmy's hand before it went into the bowl, "Charmy," She hissed through clenched teeth, "We don't have any money ta pay for that." _''Sides, we don't even know what they make their candy outta.'_ the last part wasn't spoken, but Charmy knew she meant to make a point of that as well.

"Oh, don't worry about money; Lock, Shock and Barrel come in here for candy all the time." the little witch reassured, looking slightly irritated at the mention of Boogie's Boys.

"Awesome! Thanks!" Charmy cried, pulling a handful of sweets from the bowl. Kaity, after a minute of hesitation and staring from the three citizens, took a few of the candies from the bowl and thanked the witches. When nothing happened to Charmy after he hurriedly unwrapped and ate what looked like chocolate, Kaity did the same. Taking a quick second to examine the treat; it was shaped like a tarantula but definitely looked and smelled like chocolate. The chameleon took a bite; delighted to find that it _was_ chocolate and, to add to her delight, had a raspberry filling.

Charmy's candy was almost gone by the time they left the store and during their visits with the other citizens, the bee bothered his companion her candy. One of their last stops, being sometimes around noon, was the Mayor. Both mobians instantly remembered him when they saw him; he was the one with the spinning head and two faces.

When the three arrived at the Mayor's house, Jack could instantly tell something was wrong; the Mayor's pale, worried face was active and the Mayor himself seemed a bit skittish about something. Despite this, Jack greeted the Mayor cheerily and introduced his mobian friends.

The Mayor greeted the two new comers then turned to Jack, an urgent tone to his voice. "Jack, I'm worried about Boogie's Boys. They've been running around for days singing that song of theirs; I think they're planning on bringing Oogie back."

The skeleton put a reassuring hand on the Mayor's shoulder, "Nonsense, Oogie is gone for good this time. There's absolutely nothing to worry about." He didn't bother bringing up Sally's premonition; that only would've given the Mayor more reason to be worried, "About this Halloween..." Jack started, watching the Mayor's face turn to its more tan, happy side at the mention of the holiday. "I was thinking this year we could mix things up a bit; my friends here have told me some wonderful stories about how they celebrate Halloween. And I think they might just make this Halloween the most horrible yet."

The Mayor's expression suggested that the pale face wanted to come back. "I don't know, Jack...Last time we tried something new, everything was a disaster."

"Last time we tried taking over another holiday," Jack pointed out, "This time we'll simply make a few changes to our own."

The Mayor seemed to consider this for a moment then nodded hesitantly, "Alright...I just hope Oogie doesn't spoil things..."

"He won't. Lock, Shock, and Barrel are only scaring everyone, Oogie isn't coming back and nothing is going to go wrong this year." Jack said in a assured tone. Jack turned his head to face Charmy and Kaity behind him. "I was wondering if there was some way to help these two from sticking out in the crowd also."

Charmy and Kaity stood quietly, but they both knew Jack's real reason was to keep Lock, Shock and Barrel from picking them out as liabilities if Oogie _did_ return.

The Mayor looked at them a moment then suggested; "Costumes?"

Jack clapped his boney hands together; "Perfect!" He cried cheerily. He turned back to the other two, "We'll find you two some costumes and you'll fit right in. Thank you, Mayor." Jack ushered the younger two away from the Mayor's house, leaving the Mayor partially bewildered by the conversation.

**OoOoO**

"I wanna be a werewolf!" Charmy cried, buzzing a figure eight in the air while spinning around. The bee flew in front of Kaity's face, beared his fingers like claws and growled like wolf. Kaity growled back in response, a throaty, more dangerous sounding growl. Charmy immediately flew to Jack's other side. Just in case. "...I still wanna be a werewolf." Charmy offered out.

"I suppose Wolfe could help us there." Jack nodded, "And what about you, Kaity?"

"Eh...vampire, I guess." she shrugged.

Jack's skeleton grin showed his excitement about the past events, "A werewolf and vampiress it is, then." Jack quickened his pace. Kaity and Charmy had already been having a hard time keeping up with Jack and his long strides, now they ran or flew faster to catch up with their host.

**OoOoO**

Charmy's costume had been fairly easy to obtain; Jack explained to Wolfe, the werewolf with a lumberjack shirt, about the costumes the werewolf had instantly offered a large jar of brown, coarse fur.

"What's this?" Charmy asked, almost worried about what he would hear.

"The fur I've been shedding for the past five years." the wolf had explain proudly. Charmy's face turned a shade greener. "The witches could probably help you keep it all in place."

"It's a marvelous collection." Jack complemented, seeming actually interesting in the collection of fur. "Thank you very much for your help."

Kaity's costume had been a bit harder, but not by much. As before, Jack explained to the four vampire brothers about making the costumes. Telling the story as though it were an attempt to help the other two fit in. The oldest vampire, and apparently the tallest, took Kaity by one hand and spun her in place; looking at her carefully. Finally, the eldest vampire nodded and replied; "No problem. Just give us a second." The four vampires ushered Kaity into their house, followed closely by Jack and Charmy.

There had been a quick fight between the vampires over whether their choice of clothing would fit or not, but finally came in agreement when Jack suggested the witches could size it without doing damage to the outfit or material.

"I had hoped," The eldest vampire started, "That my own young blood could wear this. But if it to help our Pumpkin King, I see no harm in lending it to you." The dress Jack was handed was a long, black dress with a red middle made of crushed velvet with intricate black markings of swirls and bats.

The thinnest vampire, also the second oldest, handed Jack a black choker designed with a spider web and what Kaity suspected was a real spider on it as well as a silver bracelet with a spider on it as well. "Perhaps these will help also, Jack." Jack thanked the four brothers and led Charmy and Kaity to the Witch's Shop. At the shop, Jack explained for a third time and the witches agreed, though Charmy and Kaity both knew they would have anyway. Several spells were chanted in Latin, surprising Charmy when the fur flew from the open jar like a whirlwind and stuck in place on the bee as if it were naturally his. The dress obtained from the vampire brothers shrunk to fit the chameleon girl, and even fangs were added to her mouth.

"Cool!" The two cried simultaneously, admiring their costumes.

**OoOoO**

Meanwhile; Lock, Shock and Barrel gathered what they would need for their next job. Really all they would need is the bag they had used to capture Sandy Claws, a black bag decorated with pumpkins, but a few weapons were nice to tag along. Just in case the Pumpkin King gave them any problems.

**Next chapter is just a long re-make of 'Kidnap the sandy Claws' so feel free to skip it.**


	8. Kidnap the Pumpkin King

**Yeah...not too much to say here...**

Chapter 8: Kidnap the Pumpkin King

The trio of kids quickly exited their tree house with their equipment, simultaneously starting in song; "_Kidnap Jack the Pumpkin King?_"

Barrel put in with a raised hand, "I wanna do it!"

"First let's figure out this thing." Lock suggested, whacking Barrel in the head with his mask.

_la lala lalala lalalalala_

_la lala lalala lalalalala_

_Kidnap the Pumpkin King_

_lock him up real tight_

_Throw away the key and then_

_turn off all the lights._

Shock pulled a picture of Sally from their tub of supplies and explained to the other two;

_First we're going to set some bait_

_inside and nasty trap and wait_

_when Jack comes, we'll_

_snap the trap and close the gate._

the devil and skeleton wearing boys seemed impressed by the plan; grinning in a wicked, approving way, but then Lock snapped his fingers and piped;

_Wait, I've got a better plan,_

_to catch Jack the skeleton man,_

_let's send the Oogie army in,_

_and when they're done, we'll tie him up._

Barrel and Shock cackled at the plan, that would _definitely_ be an option. They sang in perfect unison;

_kidnap the Pumpkin King_

_throw him in a pit_

_keep him there for 90 years_

_then see if he submits._

Barrel cut in again, his voice hitting an excited tone.

_Then Mister Oogie Boogie man,_

_can proceed with his plan._

_He'll be so pleased, I do declare,_

_The holidays should beware!_

_Whee!_ they all shouted happily, as if their cruel ideas were a fun child's game. Lock spoke up again.

_I say that we take a cannon_

_aim it at his door and then,_

_knock three times and when he answers,_

_Skellington will be no more._

Shock rolled her eyes and smacked Lock in the head and yanked his hair, making the devil boy yell.

_You're so stupid,_

_think now,_

_if we blow a great, big hole through Jack_

_we may lose some pieces and then_

_Mister Oogie will give us heck!_

Barrel grimaced and nodded in agreement with Shock, nix that plan.

_Kidnap the Pumpkin King_

_tie him in a bag_

_throw him in the acid works_

_then see if he is sad_

_because Mister Oogie Boogie is the meanest guy around_

_If I were on his Boogie list, I'd get out of town._

_He'll be so pleased by our success_

_that he'll reward us, too, I bet._

_Perhaps he'll make his special brew_

_or snake and spider stew._

_We're his little henchmen and we take out job with pride_

_we do our best to please him and stay on his good side._

_I wish you guys weren't so dumb._ Shock complained, swatting at Barrel as he made a reach in their tub for a black and orange lollipop the witch had stored there for later.

_I'm not the dumb one._ Lock shot back, shoving Shock forward.

_You're no fun._ Barrel complained, rubbing his head after its encounter with Shock's broomstick.

_Shut up! _Shock snapped at the both, taking off her mask to show how stern her expression was.

_make me!_ Lock snapped back defiantly. When the look didn't intimidate either boy, Shock huffed and slid her mask on. It was Barrel's turn to blurt out an idea;

_I've got something, listen_

_This one is real good, you'll see_

_We'll send Oogie's army to his door_

_Upon there'll be a battle, see_

_Now, on the side, we'll wait and hide_

_until he is trapped completely_

_and then his fight pulls him outside_

_Then we'll have him one, two, three!_

Shock and Lock were admittedly impressed with the idea, glancing at each other with a nod. Barrel was beaming as they all sang once again;

_Kidnap the Pumpkin king_

_beat him with his bones,_

_lock him up for 90 years_

_never send him home._

_Kidnap the Pumpkin King_

_chop him into bits_

_Mister Oogie Boogie is sure to get his kicks_

_Kidnap the Pumpkin King, see what we will see_

_lock him in a cage and then throw away the key_

Boogie's boys cackled once again, trying to talk over the others to get their vote for their plan heard as they approached Halloween Town's front gate, the cover of night allowing them to go unnoticed.

**I'm actually sort of happy how I re-wrote a few of these lines, but over-all it isn't too great...probably would've been better if you'd just skipped it. The chapter title could have told you the basic plot here.**


	9. Jack's Abduction

**Fffffff Song chapter. Beware! Also, the title sucks, but I was trying to make a subtle alteriation to the name of the song in this chapter, "Jack's Obsession" and, as you can see, I failed X3**

Chapter 9: Jack's Abduction

Lock, Shock and Barrel move noiselessly through Halloween Town, even their claw-footed tub seemed to moving with stealth for their mission. The trio approached Jack's house and carefully opened the gate. Not wanting to attract attention of the night wanders, they walked casually up the steep stairs, leaving their porcelain steed on the ground. The three chortled manically, each gripping the plastic bag tightly in their hands.

"Shhh! He'll hear us!" Shock hissed after her own mirth calmed down and she was reminded of their orders. "And we _don't_ want to make Mr. Oogie Boogie mad."

Behind their masks, Lock and Barrel paled and nodded. Lock pounded his plunger on Jack's door and stood ready with the others to attack.

**OoOoO**

Jack, who stayed up long after his two guests had went to bed, looked up from the plans he had been making for the Halloween to come at a knock at his door. The skeleton man glanced at his clock; it was well beyond midnight. "I wonder who that could be." Jack said to Zero, who only barked once and seemed to imitate wagging a tail.

Jack stood up from his seat and headed quickly toward the door with Zero close at his heels; another knock came. "Too late to be the Mayor...and no one visits often at night." Jack pondered. The visitor knocked again, it sounded urgent this time. "Coming!" Jack called, striding over to the door and throwing it open. No one. Zero made a quiet whine and looked up at his owner in confusion; Jack shared the same look as he looked down at his dog. He took a step outside, looking toward the gate of Halloween Town; chances were he'd see "Hello?" he called out.

"Oh Jaaaaaaaaaaack," Three voices sung out from behind him. Jack spun quickly, almost positive who would be there and what they would say next. "Trick-or-treat." What Jack Skellington didn't expect was the three suddenly pouncing on him and throwing a black bag over his head and then the rest of him.

"I think he's too tall." Barrel said.

"Not if we push him in a bit farther." Lock said. Jack suddenly felt a pair to tiny hands grab his ankles and shove his legs in; his knees almost reached over his face once the hands released him and the opening of the bag was tightly closed.

"I don't think he'll fit down the tunnel like that." Shock said from the other side of the bag.

"Don't worry about it," Lock said in an almost nonchalant tone, "We'll figure it out before we hand Jack over to Mr. Oogie Boogie."

If Jack still had a beating heart, he was sure it would have stopped for a moment; either Boogie's boys were setting up that conversation for his benefit and for anyone who happened to be listening or Oogie Boogie really _was_ back.

Jack felt his ribs suddenly hitting the stairs as he was dragged down, "He's really light." Barrel said, he sounded surprised.

"_Duuuuuuuh_." Shock responded, there was a sound outside Jack thought was Shock hitting Barrel with her mask. "He's a skeleton, dummy."

"I'm not a dummy, you are!"

"Shut up!"

"Make me!"

The Pumpkin King couldn't help wonder if anyone could hear their argument, or if he was just close enough for it to seem they were arguing loudly. Jack felt himself lifted and dropped again, a hollow _thunk_ following as he hit. "Let's get outta here." Lock said from somewhere outside the bag. Jack felt a sudden, rough sway as they started moving; they must have thrown him in their walking bathtub. Now he was unwillingly on his way to Oogie Boogie's lair.

**OoOoO**

Kaity and Charmy, after discovering their host was missing, quickly dressed and headed into Halloween Town to ask around. Each time the answer was the same; no one had seen Jack since the day before. Charmy noticed a small group of citizens trying to casually following the two mobians, with each negative answer, their expressions grew more and more worried. Then, slowly, the citizens of Halloween Town began to sing. The vampire brothers started, swaying like a pendulum.

_Something's wrong with Jack._

_Something's wrong with Jack._

_Don't know if we're ever going to get him back_

The wolf man, with ears lowered, followed with the crowd.

_He's gone away again, like he wants to hide_

The corpse lady squeezed her son's hand reassuringly and sung her own line

_Never hear a word_

"_Hope he hasn't died._" Corpse kid finished, before the town began singing in unison once again;

_Something's wrong with Jack_

_Something's wrong with Jack._

"He's not in 'is house, no one's seen 'im...where'd 'e go, then?" Kaity wondered out loud.

"Maybe he got kidnapped?" Charmy offered.

"Then it's our job ta find 'im." the chameleon replied, "Come on, Charmy, there's probably clues 'round 'is house." both the bee and chameleon rushed in the direction of Jack's house, the worrying creatures following behind.

The duo arrived and instantly began searching the area. Charmy searched the stairs, finding a small trace of what looked to be black plastic and, before he knew it, had joined in the song.

_Everything is buzzing in my skull;_

_Will it let me be I cannot tell_

_There are so many things I cannot grasp_

_When I think I've got it_

_Then at last_

_Through my tiny fingers it does slip_

_Like a snowflake in a fiery grip_

Meanwhile, Kaity searched the bottom of the stairs and the rest of the flat area behind Jack's gate. She squatted down by what seemed to be several scratches in the pavement and sang her won few verses are she examined them closer.

_Somethin's here I'm not quite gettin'_

_Through I try, I keep forgettin'_

_Like a memory long since passed_

_Here in an instant, gone in a flash_

_What does it mean?_

"_What does it mean?_" Charmy asked/sang, showing Kaity what he had found. She examined it closely and went on;

_In this scrap and in that scratch_

_A secret's waitin' ta be cracked_

_These clues and trails confuse me so,_

_Confound it all, I love it, though._

Charmy shook his head and looked at the scratch. Nothing too special about it or the scrap of black he had found.

_Simple objects, nothing more_

_But something hidden through a door,_

_Though we do not have the key_

_Something's here we cannot see_

_What does it mean?_

"_What does it mean?_" Kaity repeated with a shrug, glancing back at the on-lookers behind the gate

"Let's check the house again." Charmy suggested, starting up the stairs with a nod from his friend. The on-lookers walked closer to the gate, hoping the detectives would stay outside so they could see.

They entered the house and shook their heads doubtfully.

_What does it mean?_ They asked together, no person or idea seemed to jump out at them while they were outside.

They were positive they wouldn't find anything, but split up to search anyway. Kaity searched the upper floors, muttering her next vocals, almost in an irritated tone

_I've looked around this house so many times_

_I know the hallways, and I know each room_

_I know the lay-out well enough by heart_

On the bottom levels, Charmy groaned and clutched his head; being a detective was hard with only two people!

_My brain's so full, it's tearing me apart._

_As often as I've looked through, something's wrong_

_So hard to put my tiny finger on._

The bee buzzed around the house more, stopping at the door, his eyes landing on a black and orange swirled lollipop lying on the ground with several bugs already swarming over it and several other candies on the ground. What was it the witches had told him?

_Or, perhaps, it's not as deep as we've been led to think_

_Are we trying much too hard?_

His eyes lit as he remembered; they said Boogie's boys came for candy often. And as far as he had seen, no one else in the town ever touched it, let along leave it lying around.

_Of course, I've been to close to see_

_The answer's right in front of me!_

_Right in front of me..._

"Kaity! I figured it out!" Charmy shouted up the stairs, "Come here, quick!" he heard a rush of footsteps and Kaity appeared in the stairway.

"How'd ya figure it?" She asked, she seemed surprised that her friend had figured it out before she had. Charmy grinned, pointing out the fallen lolly to the older detective.

_It's simply really, very clear_

_Look what they left behind; right there!_

_A lollipop and more to spare_

_At the start, we over looked it_

_They dropped it here and we hooked it_

Charmy's smile was wide, proud of his findings and that he had solved the quick case himself.

_You know, I think this whole thing_

_Is not as tricky as it seems_

But Kaity didn't seem to share in his pride, she crosses her arms and started curtly;

_Oh? And where would they have gone?_

_Bet ya didn't think of that one_

_They could be anywhere, ya see_

Her last line came with a grin as Charmy's own smile faded, realizing he had over-looked that detail.

_Like underground or in a tree?_ Charmy offered out. The chameleon's expression was not an amused one. She simply shrugged and went over to the closest window and looked out at the town and the woods beyond. A grin suddenly spread over her face.

_But there's no reason I can find_

_It couldn't take some searchin' time_

_I bet that we could find 'em, too_

_And that's exactly what we'll do_

**Suspence, yay. =B Next chapter won't be annoying song chapters, I promise.**


	10. A Hunt Through Halloween Town

**Yaaaaaaaaaay, finally got a chapter of this up =D I can't think of much to say here, so enjoy.**

Chapter 10: A Hunt Through Halloween Town

Now that they had a suspect..._suspects_, the duo started their search. But not before answering a few questions of the confused and curious crowd that had formed outside Jack's house.

"Did you find Jack?" The tall witch asked.

"Where is he? Is he hiding?" The Clown asked almost immediately after.

"Halloween is less than a year away!" The mayor cried, "This is _not_ a good time for Jack to be running off on us!" That sparked more questions, all the voices rising to be heard over their fellow ghouls.

"Everyone shut up fer a few seconds." Kaity barked crossly, scanning over the crowd until they quieted. "Now, we don't know where 'e is...but we _do_ have a couple suspects."

"But we've already looked around town, so he can't be here." Charmy said; "So he has to be in an area around Halloween Town people live." Then he quickly added, "If there are any."

Both detectives paused for a moment. Quiet, urgent whispers swept over the crowd until finally Corpse kid stepped forward tentatively; "Um...I do know one place...But it's where Boogie's boys live."

"Where's it at?" Charmy asked, sharing a quick glance with his partner.

"I'll show you..."

The crowd parted as the detectives left Jack's house and followed their informer.

**OoOoO**

Several hills and dips later led the young detectives and their guide to an old tree adorned with a large cage, as though it were made for an over-grown bird, which was chained to something in a rickety looking tree house that sat in the limbs of the tree. The pale child pointed a chubby finger up at the shack. "That's where they live...I've seen them go up sometimes." He suddenly looked around, as if frightened by something, "I also hear Oogie Boogie lives below it...in some underground place." He jumped at the flutter of crow's wings nearby. "I-I don't wanna hang around here anymore...I'll see you back in town." Hopefully.

The last word wasn't spoken, but all three minors were thinking it; Corpse Kid knew what Oogie could do and has seen in the past, but Charmy and Kaity could only go on what they had heard and whatever instinct told them.

"Ready?" Charmy asked, eyeing the cage in front of them warily.

The chameleon girl shrugged, "As I'll ever be." Both detectives strode forward cautiously, standing at the foot of the broken bridge that served as a dock for the cage. "Well, we goin' or what?" Kaity asked after a moment of tense silence. Without another word, the two ducked into the cage and began their ascent into the tree house of Boogie's boys.

**OoOoO**

Jack, having finally forced his way out of the knotted bag, looked around him and recognized it immediately; He was behind bars this time, but the room hadn't changed. At the center of the room was a familiar cage, shaped as a tall cylinder with a circle on top, making it seem like a human body, one door leading into an area that seemed to be teeming with magma and other treacherous traps, and seven cells, including his own. The cells were decorated with ad ugly and menacing interpretation or each holiday; Independence Day, Saint Patrick's Day, Valentine's Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and Halloween.

As Jack examined his surroundings, he noted that almost every cell had a prisoner; in Independence's cell sat a tall old man with white hair and a suit and top hat colored mostly with red, white and blue. Saint Patrick's Day was still empty; but Jack had heard that leprechauns were hard to catch, so this made sense. The Valentine's Day cell held a fat baby wrapped in a dipper; he was crying about something, Jack guessed it had something to do with the pink heart-shaped arrows and red bow that hung out of the child's reach. Thanksgiving had a strange-looking bird inside; it was brown and had a red gobbler hanging down as well as tail feathers colored in dull shades of red, yellow, and orange. Its head snapped from one direction to the other; either the bird was dumb of it hadn't yet realized there was no way out. A familiar pink rabbit was contained inside the Easter cage; it still wore the large blue bow on its neck, and a small basket of eggs was hanging outside its cage. The skeleton man was pleased to see that his old friend Sandy hadn't been captured yet, but that left him as the prisoner of the Halloween cell.

Jack sighed and tossed the black bag aside idly, drawing up his knees and resting his head in his bony hands. "What am I going to do?" he asked himself, "The others don't realize I'm right below them...and as long as I'm trapped here, I can do nothing to save Halloween Town and the other holidays from whatever Oogie is scheming." The skeleton sighted again and slid his hands over his eye sockets, he let his fingers scrape across his skull as he brought them closer to his palm; almost a fist but not quite. "You've got to think of something, Jack..."

**Next chapter is just a song chapter =w= You can skip it if you want...by the way, I'll be gone a few days, so if I do get the chapter done, it'll be a couple days until it gets posted...sorry...**


	11. The Oogie Boogie Song

**Yes! Finally an update on this story! =D I actually had a hard time with these lyrics...I love the original song, though. I have no clue _why_ I like Oogie...I just do...**

**And yes, fail title =D**

Chapter 11: The Oogie Boogie Song

Charmy looked cautiously around the room once the cage stopped; the room was filled with weapons, a stash of candy, and a metal tunnel that had a drawing on it to make it resemble some angry creature.

"Looked much smaller on the outside." Kaity murmured, taking a step into the tree house. "So, Oogie Boogie lives underground." she said, eyeing the tunnel.

"Then that's probably where he is?" Charmy asked weakly, pointing to the tunnel.

"Yep..." Kaity grimaced as she got closer, "And it's a pretty tight fit, too."

Charmy frowned and flew closer to his partner, "You scared?" He asked. He knew about her claustrophobia.

"'Course not!" Kaity scoffed, though her tone said otherwise.

"T-then you go first...I kinda am scared."

"What? No! Ya go first!"

"Why?"

"Yer smaller."

Charmy crossed his arms and huffed, "That doesn't mean anything."

"We'll help." A new voice chimed in, the voice of Shock. Both detectives jumped and spun around; but by that time Lock, Shock and Barrel were already in mid-air and knocked the duo to the ground. For children, the worked surprisingly fast, in no time Boogie's boys had bound the detectives by their hands and ankles.

Barrel came around in front of Kaity and poked her in the head. "What's this thing? It looks kinda weird." The pale boy squealed and drew his finger back once the chameleon attempted to bite him.

"Get outta my face." She snapped at him. "We know ya took Jack Skellin'ton, now what'd ya do with 'im?"

Shock got a sudden, coy smile, "Oooooooh, you're looking for Jaaaaaaack." She said in a tone to match her look.

"Yeah, and we know you took him!" Charmy repeated, kicking his legs as if it would help him escape. "And we're not afraid of you!"

Boogie's boys glanced at each other and shared an evil grin. They were thinking the same thing; To Mister Oogie's lair these weird-os go!

**OoOoO**

The duo was surprised at how easy the trip had been; some of the turns should have been deemed impossible to make, but both got through without a scratch.

Charmy, who had been going face first, quickly took to the air as he exited the pipe, thankfully missing the roulette wheel just below. The other detective wasn't so lucky; the tunnel spat her out and threw her onto the table. The chameleon girl groaned. "That hurt..."

"Well duh."

"Shut up, Charmy."

The bee and chameleon jumped to attention as the sound of rattling dice penetrated the air; they couldn't see anyone, but someone _had_ to be there.

"H...Hello?" Charmy called out.

"Show yeself!" Kaity hissed, growling and squirming fitfully from the binds on her wrists. The chameleon girl managed to sit up on the roulette wheel, knowing full well she wouldn't get far if she stood up.

The only response the two got to their question was a small bit of chatter they couldn't understand and more rattling of dice.

"I-I don't like it here..." Charmy said after a few moments of listening.

"Chill, Charmy." The chameleon replied coolly, pulling her legs up to undo her binds, "I'll be free in a bit, so hang tight 'till then." A minute passed and the rope finally released from the teen's ankles. Wrists were a tad more difficult to untie.

The little bee had his binds undone quickly, and was rubbing the pain from his wrists. "L-lets get outta here." Charmy squeaked, now taking time to look around the lair they had fallen into; it could almost be described as a giant, macabre casino. The roulette wheel table Kaity had landed on served as a center for an even bigger roulette wheel that served as a floor, surrounded on all sides by other gambling symbols; giants cards in the image of the royalty of each suit, slot machines fashioned to look like cowboys holding guns (Charmy guessed that was the lever) and even a spinning wheel that looked similar to a chip. There were also bats hanging high above them in chains, a strange, spiked mechanism that held a pair of skeletons pinned firmly in place, and other such torture devices.

"Okay, yeah, this place looks a bit creepy." Kaity agreed, "But we still gotta find Jack." The chameleon girl rubbed her freed wrists as she scanned around, "Sides, I don't see anyone here."

Almost immediately after these words were spoken; the lights flashed out, and immediately to an ultra violet color, making everything the bee and chameleon had observed take on bright, highlighted colors and a tune floated through the air. A creature that looked as though it were made of a sack, green in color, seemed to appear from the shadows, the dice clacking in his fingerless hand and a wicked smile on his lipless mouth.

"_Another_ song?" Kaity groaned.

"But we just got out of a song!" Charmy whined in the same tone.

The monster didn't seem to care about their woes; however, as it started its song, from the voice, they assumed the sack creature was male.  
_Well, well, well, what have we here?  
Couple 'a detectives, huh?  
Oh, I'm really scared  
So you're the ones my boy's've been talkin' about, ha, ha_

_You're jokin', you're jokin'  
I can't believe my eyes  
You're jokin' me, you gotta be  
You can't be the right guys!  
You're tiny, you're pre-teen  
I don't know which is worse  
I might just split a seam now  
If I don't die laughing first _

The creature paused to belt out a horrid laugh, Kaity and Charmy had their guard up; matching their opponent's steps as he came forward; they went back, every bit suspicious of the monster's movements.

_When Mr. Oogie Boogie says  
There's trouble close at hand  
You'd better pay attention now  
'Cause I'm the Boogie Man  
And if you aren't -_

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Kaity jumped in, letting down her guard just for that moment. A smile was creeping across her muzzle "_Yer_ the boogie man?"

The acclaimed Boogie man grinned, the best he could, anyway "Yes, I am."

The bee and chameleon looked at one another for a moment then burst into laughter. Kaity brought up the next verse before the little bee could start up.

_Charms, there's somethin' very wrong  
'Cause this guy's not at all the one  
I told ya all 'bout, nothin' like I pictured fer so long._

From somewhere up in the scaffolding, a trio of small voices sang out "_Ohhh_"

Oogie Boogie, bunched up his fingerless hand "_Ohhh_..." He growled, setting a hateful glare on the laughing duo.

More unseen voices added in their own "_Ohhh_"

"_Ohhh-hahaha!_" Kaity unintentionally let out, still clutching her sides in laughter.

Charmy even added in his own verse, adding to the mockery. He wriggled his fingers in as spooky a manner as he could. "_Ooooo, he's the scary Boogie Man!_"

Oogie let out another savage growl.

_Watch it now  
Or you'll have some **real** trouble at hand  
You won't last too long down here;  
No one mocks the Boogie Man!_

Both mobians hooted and laughed more at the idle threat. "_Haaaaaaa! Yer jokin', yer jokin'_" Kaity sang out, getting interrupted as Charmy took over, struggling to get the lyrics out between fits of laughter.

_I think I'm about to cry  
Kaity, shut this freak show up  
I'll laugh so hard I'll die!_

Kaity took up the lines with a devious grin, watching Oogie flare with anger at every insult.

_Yer funny, I'm laughin'  
Ya really are too much  
And now, if yer willin'  
I've got a game in mind_

The mention of a game seemed to spark Oogie's interest, he idly played with the dice in his hand as he answered, "What kind of game did you have in mind?"

Kaity grinned, spying the dice in Oogie's hand "I'm thinkin' a little gamblin'."

The burlap monster grinned at the mention of gambling, he especially loved a good gambling game. He took up the song next

_Oh, the sound of rollin' dice  
To me is music in the air  
'Cause I'm a gamblin' Boogie Man  
Although I don't play fair_

It's much more fun, I must confess  
When lives are on the line  
Not mine, of course, but yours, dear girl  
Now that'd be just fine

Charmy butted in fast to reply,

_And once we win you'll take us to Jack;  
You have to show where he's at!_

Oogie smiled cruelly as the roulette wheel began to spin, knocking the chameleon girl off balance; Charmy landed quickly to stay at her side, and avoid a sudden capture by Oogie.

_Oh, brother, you're something  
You put me in a spin  
You aren't comprehending  
The position that you're in_

The wheel spun faster, forcing Charmy onto the ground alongside his friend, holding on tightly and praying they aren't flung off the wheel. The bee looked up in time to see one of the tiles launch Oogie into the air, where he landed safely on a strange-looking mixer hovering above the center of the wheel. A loud _thud_ made both detectives look up, paling at the sight of the giant ball rolling toward them over the tiles. "We're gonna get crushed!" Charmy cried out.

"No we're not." Kaity growled, "We just gotta find a way out."

Oogie laughed at this;

__

It's hopeless, you're finished  
You haven't got a prayer  
'Cause I'm Mr. Oogie Boogie  
And you ain't going nowhere

**Sorry if the spacing looks weird in this chapter...**


	12. Oogie Roulette

**That's right; I'm updaing Halloween finally! Rejoice!**

**Okay, that's enough of that |D Anyway, sorry it took so long to update this and not updating anything, I've been in a bit of a slump for writing lately. So this is short but I'm at least happy it's _something_. Enjoy.**

Chapter 12: Oogie Roulette 

There was hardly any time to think; Kaity could only hurdle over the small bumps in Oogie's wheel as the ball raced toward her and Charmy. The little bee followed close behind Kaity, glancing around for any way to escape the ball rolling after them.

"It's gonna crush us!" Charmy repeated, flying close by Kaity.

"_No_, it isn't." Kaity hissed, glancing around quickly, spotting a sewer pipe sticking out of the wall with a grate over it; if they could get off the Roulette wheel Charmy could fly them up to the pipe and they'd be free. But there was still the Roulette problem. And the ball was moving surprisingly quick, considering how fast the wheel was going and the bumps. "Charmy, ya think ya can get us up ta that pipe over there?" She asked her bee friends, pointing to the planned escape route.

"Yup." Charmy nodded, looking at the pipe.

"Good; if we can get closer, than it should be easy ta-" The detective was interrupted as her foot hit one of the bumps she had been hurdling over and knocked her to the ground.

Both mobians heard Oogie laugh as the ball got closer, "Ooooh, doesn't look like this is your game, kiddo."

Kaity yelled and threw her hands over her head; there was no way she would get up in time to escape the ball's path. Charmy, who quickly noticed Kaity was on the same tile that had flung Oogie to his current position, looked quickly for anything that could save his friend. What he found was a silvery button of sorts shaped like a black widow. "Hang on!" Charmy said quickly pressing the button and flying out of the ball's path.

"Wh-!" Kaity started, being interrupted abruptly as she was launched off the tile and through the air. Oogie gave a shout as the chameleon girl went flying and nearly collided with him; but, lucky for both, she went by and toward the pipe they had been aiming for. The littlest detective caught Kaity in midair and flew toward the grate. "I'll kill ya!" Kaity seethed, "Don't ever _ever_ do that ta me again!"

"You're welcome!" Charmy chirped cheerily, flying up enough for the other detective to pull the grate out of place and allow the bee to fly thorough.

The detectives could hear Oogie scream in rage after them. "No one dupes the Boogie man!" he howled. Then, shockingly, they felt a wind pulling them back, like a vacuum pulling in dust.

Kaity held tightly to the pipe line, "What the he-Oof!" Charmy had crashed into the chameleon girl, knocking the breath from her lungs before she could finish.

"What's happening?" Charmy asked over the sound.

"I dunno, I think 'e's tryin' ta pull us back." Kaity responded, fighting to get them both farther up in the tunnel. They hadn't gotten more than a few feet from their last stopping place before they came to a new tunnel leading down; a quick glance was all the agreement they needed to slip down and escape the suction Oogie was somehow able to create.

**OoOoO**

The tunnel dropped into an area far below the ground; or it _could_ have been far down, the magma flowing like water and the occasional fossil threw the detectives off a bit. "This place is awesome!" Charmy said, looking around.

"It's hot." Kaity said bluntly, "We stick 'round here too long I'm gonna be as hyper as ya." she said, starting a walk across the surprisingly cool rock beneath her feet. "C'mon, we've gotta get back ta Halloween Town and tell 'em."

"But we don't even know the way back." Charmy said, and there was no way he would be going back up the tunnel again.

"Well, this's gotta lead somewhere, right? We'll just follow it." And that's exactly what the duo did.

**OoOoO**

After several near brushes with a magma-related death, the bee and chameleon finally entered a room with seven cells around the walls and a cage, shaped as a tall cylinder with a circle on top, making it seem like a human body, at the center of the room. Above each cell seemed to be a menacing, almost evil, version of holidays the duo recognized; Independence Day, Saint Patrick's Day, Valentine's Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and Halloween. Only the cell with a frightening Christmas tree looming over it was empty. each respectively held Uncle Sam; a leprechaun, which was shouting and hopping around; Cupid, who was crying obnoxiously loud; a turkey that occasionally gobbled and snapped its head to and fro; the Easter bunny resting on its hind legs and finally Jack sitting with his long legs drawn up to him.

"Jack!" Kaity and Charmy said simultaneously, getting the skeleton's attention.

Jack smiled at the duo as they came over to his cell. "How horrible to see you two." He said in a cheery tone. By that time the two were used to the slang in Halloween Town, so weren't fazed when Jack used 'horrible'.

"Yeah, ya alright?" Kaity asked, looking from Jack to the lock. "The whole town's worried 'bout ya."

Jack smiled weakly, "I'm not surprised..." His tone suddenly got urgent, "But listen; you've got to get back to Halloween Town quickly; Oogie may come back soon and-"

"We're not leaving you, Jack." Charmy said bravely, though the thought of seeing Oogie after the roulette wheel experience wasn't high on his idea list. "Besides, we might not be able to find our way back after we leave."

"We're right below Halloween Town." Jack told them, both looked shocked and confused; how had no one known about it? The skeleton pointed to the cage, "You can ride that back up into Halloween Town."

"Awesome. Ya can come with us." Kaity said, setting to work on the lock. "If Oogie really is close, we probably won't have time ta free the others. Charmy, keep watch."

"Yessir, ma'am!" Charmy saluted, scanning quickly for Oogie, found nothing and reported this only a minute after. Kaity let out an exasperated sigh, Jack Skellington only chuckled. It took another minute or two, but Jack was freed. "Oogie's coming!" Charmy said urgently before Jack could get out any 'thank you's. The three quickly piled into the cage and ascended up and into the empty square of Halloween Town.

**Cookies =D**


	13. We're gonna go see Santa!

**Short chapter. Sorry. I wanted to get something posted on this since it's been a while...and yeah, Santa will be in the next chapter XD I'll have to re-watch the movie to get the right reactions.**

Chapter 13: "We're gonna go see Santa!"

By the time they were up and back on the solid ground of Halloween Town, it had gotten darker than when their venture had started. "What time is it?" Kaity asked, surprised that no one was out after dark.

Charmy yawned, "Too late." He reported, "I'm tired."

Kaity rolled her eyes, "We've got a burlap bag after our tails and yer tired?"

Charmy nodded, "Yup."

"...Yeah, I'm tired too." Kaity agreed, as if her previous statement had been something they dealt with everyday. "We'll figure out more in the mornin'...after Jack's done bein' mobbed by 'is fans."

Charmy giggled at Jack's embarrassed, if not somewhat confused, look.

**OoOoO**

That morning the town was gathered in front of Jack's house and was in an uproar when Jack tiredly opened his front door. He had known before Kaity had said anything that there would be questions for him the next morning about where he had been and what had happened. And, considering they had saved him from Oogie just a few hours before, it was the least he could do to give them a few more hours of sleep while the townspeople bombarded him with questions.

"Jack! Where've you been?" The Mayor asked, his worried face flipping to the happy then back to worried, "We don't have much time before Halloween; we need to go over everything again."

"The two creatures said that Oogie's Boys kidnapped you, did they?" Corpse kid asked in earnest, "Are you alright, Jack?"

Jack motioned his hand down to quite the crowd as more questions rose, "Everyone please; let me explain." The group quieted after a moment and stared intently at Jack, waiting for their leader to speak, "Oogie's boys _did_ kidnap me, yes." He nodded, waiting for the noise to go down again, "And...Oogie _is_ back." Before an uproar, he quickly added, "I'm not sure how it happened, but it has. It seems like he's trying to take over the seven holidays again."

Another uproar shook up more conversations, and because no one was asking questions to the Pumpkin king, it was easier for him to notice the three kids sitting in a claw-footed bathtub and watching Jack from across the town square. It had been his plan to tell the townspeople everything would be fine and his plan, but with Lock, Shock and Barrel sitting there, he couldn't say anything without Oogie getting wind of it. So, Jack Skellington retreated back to his home with the reassurances to the townspeople that everything would be fine. Though, given how accurate Sally's predictions had been so far, he wasn't entirely sure himself.

**OoOoO**

Since they had been in Halloween Town for roughly three days now, it was clearly past time to wear something _besides_ the clothes they had come in. So that day's attire was werewolf hair for Charmy and a vampire dress for Kaity (As much as she hated the idea).

By some miracle, Charmy had remembered the Latin the witches had spoke just the day before and recited it, making the costumes fit themselves to the bee and chameleon easily.

Kaity admired her new fangs in a close by mirror, "That's still awesome." She grinned.

**OoOoO**

Now that Charmy was a bee-wolf and Kaity a vampiress, Jack lead the two out into Halloween Town and beyond after both insisted on skipping breakfast. "Where're we going?" Charmy asked.

"Well, whenever Oogie has tried something like this before, Sandy has always been a tremendous help in stopping him. I'm thinking that he can help us now." Jack explained.

"And who's 'Sandy'?" Kaity asked, "She any good at fighting?"

Jack blinked for a moment then chuckled, "Oh, no no no; Sandy Claws. You saw the costume I have when you got here, remember?"

"Costume of..." Charmy's antenna perked cheerily, "We're gonna go see Santa!"

Jack nodded, "That's right."

"There's no such thing at Santa, Charmy." Kaity cut in, rolling her eyes, "'E's just a myth made up ta keep little kids nice and toy companies and malls ta profit off of."

"No, he's real!" Charmy argued, "Jack even said so!"

Jack seemed to prefer to stay out of the fight, especially after the look he received from Kaity once she couldn't come up with logic behind what Jack had told them days ago. The chameleon girl crossed her arms, "Bet ya twenty bucks 'e isn't real."

"Deal!" Charmy answered confidently, shaking hands with the other mobian to seal the deal.

Kaity smirked just as confidently as she finally took notice of where they were; a tangle of trees. "Hey...where are we?" she asked Jack.

"We have to go through the Christmas Door to get to Sandy." Jack answered simply, stopping in a familiar circle of holiday doors and pointing to the decorative Christmas tree. "C'mon, then." He said rather happily, turning the door's knob, which happened to look like a gold bulb ornament.

Charmy stuck his head into the hollow tree, glanced around, and then pulled his helmeted head out. "I don't see Santa." He said sadly. Kaity looked ready to say something with a snide look on her face, when a cold wind blew around the trio, accompanied by snowflakes, and pulled the three through, just as the Halloween Door had done to the detectives.

**Yeah, shortness...sorry again. |D Also, for whatever reason, we're not alloted to use more than one exclimation point or something like that...which kinda messed up with chapter a bit...**


	14. Christmas Town

**LE GASP! I updated? *brick'd* Sorry it's taken so long to update; I've had slelctive Writer's Block lately |D Meaning, I could write Role Play starters on DeviantART, but I couldn't write a feggin' story chapter |D  
Anyway, sorry about how long this chapter took, hope you like it! :D**

Chapter 14: Christmas Town

The three landed in a tall pile of snow; Charmy was the first to emerge from the pile, "That was awesome!" He whooped, "Let's do it again!"

"Let's not." Kaity yawned, already feeling the effects of the cold on her. "Let's find somewhere warm."

Not that Charmy heard this; the little bee was eagerly taking in his surroundings; colorful Christmas lights, Christmas trees, colorfully wrapped presents carried by tiny workers in elf garb, and other objects to set the holiday scene. "Where's Santa live?" Charmy asked eagerly as Jack emerged from the snow also.

"I'll show you." Jack answered, shaking snow off the top of his skull and striding across the snow. Kaity and Charmy quickly followed in under a pair of candy canes holding a banner reading 'Christmas Town'.

The younger detective smiled knowingly at the other mobian. He could see the worried expression creeping onto her muzzle. "There's no such thing as Santa." she grumbled, catching Charmy's look, "'E's not real, 'e's not real..." She repeated to herself, which she seemed to be losing confidence in with each elf, reindeer, and snowman they passed until they came to a house on the farther side of Christmas Town.

"Here he is," Jack chirped, starting toward the door, "Sandy knows me well, let me explain everything to him."

"Can I talk to Santa too?" Charmy asked eagerly.

"Of course."

"Whoo-hoo!"

"There's _no such thing_ as Santa!" Kaity hissed at Charmy just before the got to the door and the Pumpkin King knocked. "Watch, there isn't gonna be a fat guy in red at the door."

Not long after, a plump, kind looking old woman with grayed hair and dressed in a red dressed covered with a white apron. "Yes?" She asked kindly. A moment later, her eyes seemed to flash with familiarity as she looked at Jack. "Oh! Jack!" She said in a happier tone, "How nice to see you again, how're you keeping?"

"I'm doing fine, Mrs. Claws." Jack answered politely. "I was wondering if my friends and I could talk to Sandy for a moment? It's quite urgent."

Mrs. Claus quickly opened the door wider to let the three guests in. "Of course! Of course! Just give me a moment to warn-erm - _tell_ my husband that he has guests." she said with a sweet smile and disappeared shortly after.

"We're gonna meet Santa!" Charmy said in an excited tone.

"We're _not_ gonna meet Santa, 'e doesn't-"

Kaity was cut off by a jolly laugh that could belong to no one but Santa. Sure enough, a fat man dressed in red waddled through the door way, spotting the dumbfounded Kaity and the ecstatic Charmy first, he smiled at them, "Hello, kiddies, did you come to see if you're on my Nice List?"

"It's Santa!" Charmy whooped, flying forward and nearly tackling the fat man in the process of hugging him. "Hi! I'm Charmy Bee! I'm a really big fan, Santa!"

Santa gave a jolly chuckle and patted Charmy's helmeted head, "Charmy Bee...yes, I remember seeing that name just today."

"I'm on the good list? Awesome!" Charmy sounded even more excited.

Kaity was in the process of rolling her eyes when Father Christmas turned his attention to her, "What about you, little girl?" He asked in a tone that sounded polite.

"I'm _not_ a little girl." Kaity hissed venomsly. "And I don't care if I'm on yer list or not, I ain't ashamed of anythin' I've done."

"Her name's Kaity the Chameleon." Charmy told Santa.

Santa got an expression that suggested the name wasn't one he liked to think of, but the expression changed to an annoyed look as he caught sight of the tall skeleton standing in the room with the mobians. "Jack!" He said, not sounding as happy as before. Even Charmy caught the tone and suddenly decided that it was better to be by his fellow detective

"Hello, Sandy." Jack said, sounding much happier than Santa had, "I was wonder if we could have your help with a matter back in Halloween Town." he started.

"No thanks," Santa said, turning and starting to waddle back toward the room he had come from, "Everything involving you has been nothing but trouble! No more, Jack, no more!"

Jack frowned and began to move forward toward Santa Claus, "But Sandy-"

"No, Jack!" Santa finally reached the room, "I have to plan Christmas this year and me being captured or killed isn't going to get me ahead with planning."

**OoOoO**

Shortly after Santa Claus' decision, the trio was back out in the cold and trudging through the snow. The only plus on the journey was that Mrs. Claus had given the chameleon of the group a heavy blanket to prevent her from falling asleep as they searched for the holiday doors in Christmas town.

"So, now what?" Kaity asked, currently down twenty dollars.

Jack shook his skull sadly, "We deal with Oogie ourselves, I suppose..." He said glumly, looking over the doors Holiday Doors as they approached and opened the door to Halloween; they waited a moment before a black wind pulled them through and sent them on their way to Halloween Town.

**OoOoO**

Once back in Halloween Town, the trio started though the woods back toward Halloween Town. "There's gotta be somethin' we can do." Kaity said after a while of walking, "We're not just gonna wait 'round fer 'im ta attack, are we?"

"I'm afraid that's really all we can do." Jack sighed.

"But we know where's 'e's keeping the other Holiday people, why can't we free 'em and come up with a game plan?"

"It's not that simple." Jack answered, "Last time Oogie got frighteningly close to taking over the Seven Holidays. He was only stopped because he hadn't caught myself or Sandy...and I had help from Dr. Finkelstein's creation, the Soul Robber."

"Can't you just get it back and save the world again?" Charmy asked.

"Perhaps...but the chances are still slim."

The two mobians frowned at one another and walked in silence. This lasted until they reached a gate leading into a cemetery and Charmy finally broke the silence. "Jack, how come you guys have a graveyard? Do people actually die around here?"

"Everyone dies, Charmy." Jack said, still sounding glum, "Even me. One way or another."

"Does anyone ever go in there?" Kaity asked, curious at the fleeting colors of red, purple and black from within the cemetery.

Jack nodded, "I go there often, why?"

"Just curious..." She said, changing course toward the gate, "Listen, ya guys go ahead, I wanna check out this place, a'right?"

"I wanna come too." Charmy answered, also directing himself toward the gate. The Pumpkin King sighed and followed the duo toward the cemetery.

Kaity strode through the grounds with her eyes locked on the tombstones she had seen Boogie's boys disappear behind. "Ya can come out, I saw ya." She growled, punching a fist into her open palm, "Now yer gonna get it fer shovin' me down that pipe."

Lock was the first to peek out of their hiding place, much to Jack and Charmy's surprise, "You'll have to get by our _friends_ first." he leered, flipping up his devil mask.

"If yer talkin' 'bout that bath of yers, yer all gonna be dead pretty quick." Kaity leered back.

Now Shock poked her head up, "Sooooo, you're gonna fight them?" She sounded confident enough to put Jack on guard; he knew Boogie's boys much better than their visitors.

"Yeah! Let's get 'em!" Charmy said confidently, throwing punches at the air as if he were boxing.

"Good." Shock cackled, "Get 'em!" She shouted demandingly, pointing at the trio. As soon as the command was given, a creature made of molten rock and lava and a creature made of rock and ice leapt from their hiding places and landed with enough force to rumble the earth, knocking Kaity and Jack off their feet.

"What the-?" Kaity started, dumbfounded for the second time that day, "What're those things?"

"Creatures from Oogie's army." Jack answered, just as stunned to see them again. "They're tough, you should be-" Jack Skellington stopped himself as the chameleon girl jumped to her feet and charged at the creatures. "...Careful." he finished with a sigh, seeing Charmy flying after his companion at a quick rate.

"Get the ice guy; I'll take care of fire man." Kaity instructed to Charmy, who nodded and went at the ice creature.

As Charmy Bee approached the creature, it seemed to notice him and snarl. Not that this intimidated Charmy, the tiny detective charged forward, realizing only a second too late what was happening as Icy's arm lifted and aimed at its opponent. Charmy was already pulling back to stop or change course as a spear of ice shot from the beast's arm and ripped through the six-year-old's thin wing membrane. The bee screamed in pain as the spear went through and pulled him along until the spear finally embedded itself into a tree close by.

Both the chameleon girl and the skeleton snapped their attention to the cry as soon as if hit the air. "Charmy!" Kaity cried out, for that moment turning away from Fiery. If she had been looking, however, she could have dodged away from a stream of fire that licked the side of her arm, making the chameleon girl scream in pain and spin back to her enemy. She managed to dodge away from the next wave of fire, only to be knocked into a tree by her friend by Icy. The chameleon groaned quietly as she slid down the tree and to the ground.

Lock, Shock and Barrel laughed with malicious glee; two down, one to go! The creatures must have been thinking the same thing, as they both turned their attention to the conflicted Jack. The skeleton obviously wanted to go check if his new friends were okay, but leaving Boogie's boys and their creatures alone wouldn't help their cause. As the fire and ice creatures approached, his decision became obvious and ran at the monsters. He couldn't do much like the other two had; physical attacks were never a forte for skeletons...or anyone without muscle for that matter, but if he could lure them into attacking each other...

The plan was shattered almost immediately after it was formed; Fiery grasped Jack thin frame in one giant hand; now that he was closer, he could see both creatures had roughly three feet on him, even at his tall height. A split second later, Jack's pinstripe suit caught fire, making the skeleton struggle, not wanted to have his bare bones scorched as well.

"Forget him." Shock said in a demanded tone, "We got better things to do." She and her fellow trouble makers had come out of their hiding places and were enjoying the show.

"Yeah! Like get Sandy Claws!" Barrel said loudly, getting a smack in the head from Lock.

"Shut uuuuuup!" He hissed at Barrel.

"Capture Sandy?" was all Jack managed to get out before he felt himself flung in the same direction as Charmy and Kaity. As he impacted the tree, head first, Jack Skellington lost consciousness and landed face down on the ground.

**So yeah, I'm gonna see if I can wrap this up in less than ten chapters from now...it would help me a lot to get one or two stories done soon...**


	15. Back to Town

**So yeah...apparently I had this lying around on my computer...I could swear I posted it, but oh well. Hopefully this will do until I finish up more chapters. Enjoy.**

Chapter 15: Back to Town

When Jack finally came to, he felt a pair on hands on his back, shaking him awake. "Jack! Jack, please wake up!" Sally's voice pleaded, "We need you, Jack! Please!" The skeleton groaned quietly as his vision was starting to come back; a fire just to his left made him jump; the orange flames had almost caught his sleeve. He felt Sally's arms wrap around him tightly, "Oh Jack, thank goodness!"

"Sally, What's wrong?" Jack lightly nudged Sally off him and turned to face her.

"It's Oogie, his monsters are attacking Halloween Town, you're the only one who can stop them, Jack."

The skeleton glanced at him companions, just as Sally's foresight predicted, they looked tired and battered. Though he doubted he looked any better. He took Sally by the shoulders, "Is everyone okay?" he asked.

Sally nodded quickly, "Everyone escaped once they started attacking." The ragdoll collapsed into Jack's bony arms, "Oh Jack, it's just as my premonition predicted! I...I don't want you to get hurt, Jack."

Jack smiled and hugged Sally tightly to him, "Don't worry about me, Sally. If Charmy and Kaity wake up, tell then where I've went." he said, releasing to ragdoll and hurring to their town.

**OoOoO**

As Charmy and Kaity finally came to, they both noticed Sally at their side. "Where's Jack?" Kaity asked, wearily sitting up and noticing her burnt arm wrapped up.

"He's gone back to Halloween Town, it's in danger." Sally explained, then added, "Please, don't move too much, your arm is still healing...and your friend's wing too."

At this, both mobians took notice of the mended wing. "Cool!" Charmy cried, fluttering his wings a bit to test them. The tiny detective looked over to Kaity, "Are we gonna go help Jack?" he asked.

"Duh." Kaity snorted, getting to her feet, "If it's those two creatures again, there's no way Jack'll beat 'em on 'is own."

Sally watched the two creatures go, relieved that she had so far misinterpreted her premonition, but couldn't help wondering if they rest would go as awfully as she had predicted it would go.

**OoOoO**

When Charmy and Kaity ran through the gate into Halloween Town, they could see that 'danger' was an understatement for the state of the town. A big building they had assumed was the city hall was on fire, the green-watered fountain was frozen solid, even patches of the ground were either burning or frozen. And that was just one area.

"What happened here?" Charmy gasped, looking at the wreckage.

"Those monsters, duh." Kaity answered, walking more cautiously and alert. "If Jack came ta fight 'em, they might not be 'ere anymore." She said. Immediately proved wrong as a stream of fire whooshed past her far enough to keep her from burning, but close enough to feel the intense heat of it. "Or…they're still here…" She finished lamely.

"So where's Jack?" Charmy inquired, starting to back up as the frozen and fiery monsters advanced on them. The chameleon girl only shrugged in response, moving with the bee.

"I'm guessin' dead."

**I went back and read this story...IT'S SO BORING! WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME? D:  
But I'm so proud of the cover I made XD even if it's horrible.**


	16. Soul Robber

**Blarg, writer's block :I  
So yeah, I can already tell I'm gonna get annoyed writing just this after a while so I'm setting up a poll for what story I should do next. Enjoy.**

Chapter 16: Soul Robber

The two mobians moved back until their backs were to the high stone wall, but the monsters kept advancing on them. Fiery seemed to be charging a blast of fire and Icy an arctic blast, leaving the detectives to silently contemplate which was worse; being burned alive or freezing to death.

They were about to find the answer to their question when a streak of something green and slimy-looking burst out in front of them; knocking back Fiery and Icy in surprise before pulling back. Charmy was the first to look over and see their savior, "Jack!" He squealed happily, flying over and giving the skeleton a hug.

Kaity blinked, "We thought ya were dead."

"Nope; still very much alive." Jack smiled then paused, "Well, in a sense of the word..."

"What's that thing on your arm?" Charmy asked, pointing to the green mass that had coiled itself around Jack's wrist and hand.

"Oh, this is Soul Robber." The Pumpkin King explained, "A dear friend of mine let me borrow it again."

"Yeah, cool story, bro; but we've kinda got a problem." Kaity said, pointing to the two monsters that were coming back.

"If we can just get them to attack each other, we could beat them." Jack said, "I've been trying for a while already, but it doesn't seem to work."

Charmy grinned at Kaity, who reflected the expression. "Let us try, Jack." Charmy said

Before the skeleton could protest, the two detectives darted toward the monsters; it did not take long for them to be chased after. The two spent the better half of two minutes running from and dodging attacks if the monsters before stopping by one another, in the middle of the two elemental beasts.

Both monsters readied to shoot ice and fire at their targets. As the monsters fired, the detectives dove for the ground, hands thrown over their heads in protection. In fire versus ice, it wasn't hard to tell who would win.

The ice monster let out a screeching howl as its ice melted away, the pained howls eventually reduced to nothing but a gurgle before the creature was completely gone.

"Cool!" was all Charmy managed to get out before the duo had to dart away from a blast of fire aimed for them and back to Jack with Fiery following.

"One down, how should we get rid of this one?" Kaity asked, stopping by Jack.

"Well, the fountain is frozen over…" Jack said, thinking and being pulled back as the monster approached them.

"What if we make it fall into the other well thing?" Charmy asked, pointing to the wall on the far side of the town.

"Yeah, and singe every other holiday leader down there." Kaity scoffed. "We'll need a better plan."

"No, I think it's a good plan." Jack said, altering his course toward the well.

"What? Wait!" Kaity shouted, running with Charmy after the Pumpkin King. The three narrowly slid by Fiery and to the well.

Jack stood, one foot on the well and watched the fire monster turn and follow them, ready to fry the three. "Okay he's seen us, follow me. The skeleton instructed, climbing into the cage, quickly followed by the other two and dropping them down into Oogie's holding cells below. The three were out of the cage before it stopped moving, followed close behind by Fiery, causing several shrieks from the other Holiday Leaders.

"What's your plan, Jack?" Charmy asked, buzzing close behind the leader, following him into the magma-infested area he and Kaity had run through just before finding Jack again.

"If we can push him into the magma, maybe he'll melt away….so to speak." Jack said.

"Yeah, or 'e'll just get stronger and come after us later." Kaity pointed out, stopping by a rather large gap with her companions.

"We'll have to take that chance." Jack said, waiting tensely as Fiery got closer, charging at the three. "On three run to the wall…" He watched and slowly counted down, leaping to the side as he shouted 'three', followed quickly by the two detectives.

Fiery sailed past the trio and into the magma pits below, letting out an angry roar that was momentarily snuffed out when he was devoured by the molten liquid.

"….._Cool_!" Charmy squealed after a moment of silence.

**Watching things fall to their deah is always fun :3 *bricked*  
No idea when I'll be updating next of if an ending is in sight...but I may have to throw in another few song chapters. Bewaaaaaaaaaare.**


	17. We're Gonna Need Some Help

**Blarg, update. I had nothing on the chapter done so I popped in _Nightmare Before Christmas_ and for whatever reason got inspired. I finished up by 'Poor Jack'  
Also, this is mostly just to set the stage for the next chapter...which I'll definetly have fun with.**

Chapter 17: "We're Gonna Need Some Help"

After climbing out of the well and back into the streets of Halloween Town, the trio were swarmed by the monsters and creatures living there, frantically firing off questions at their bewildered leader.

Jack put up his hands for silence, to which the townspeople happily complied. "It is safe to say that those creatures won't be bothering Halloween Town anymore." He announced with gusto. The crowd broke into a ghastly mix of howls and cheers for their leader's triumph.

As the crowd began to disperse, happy to hear they were safe, the trio couldn't help but notice Sally's worried look.

"Sally?" Jack walked over, looking concerned, "Is everything alright?"

"I...I don't know, Jack." She started quietly, "My premonitions have, in a way, come true…what if I get another and see something terrible? What if Oogie kills you, Jack?"

Jack smiled and hugged Sally, "Don't worry, Sally, I'll take care of Oogie just like I always have."

"But…" Sally started but stopped herself, she knew trying to convince Jack would be impossible. He would have to learn the hard way.

**OoOoO**

Shortly after Sally bid them good bye and good luck, the three returned to Jack's house.

"So how did ya beat Oogie before?" Kaity asked, sitting at the table.

"Well, Oogie is a creature made of burlap and bugs…usually he loses his bugs and he falls apart…it was a bit tougher the second time, but it still worked.

Kaity and Charmy both giggled as if Jack had told a dirty joke. "He loses his bugs." Charmy giggled. The giggling abruptly stopped, "Wait, bugs? Like me?" Charmy sounded suddenly upset about this.

Jack paused for a moment, "I can't recall ever seeing a bee escape Oogie…I've only seen beetles and other wingless bugs."

"Oh, okay." Charmy beamed. "So we just cut him open and let all the bugs escape?"

"I'm afraid it's not that easy." Jack said, "After what happened with his monsters, I'm sure he'll have something else planned."

"So we stop it before 'e can get it workin'." Kaity shrugged, "No big deal." The chameleon glanced away in embarrassment as her stomach suddenly growled. "Um…sorry…I, uh…I haven't eaten lately… She said quietly.

"Me either." Charmy nodded.

"Then it's best we find you something to eat first before we do anything else…I'm sure there's something around here you can eat." He stood up from the table and sorted through his kitchen, "Do you eat apples?" He called.

"Are there worms in 'em?" Kaity asked.

"Not yet."

"We'll take 'em."

The skeleton reentered the room with two shiny red apples for the duo, whom eagerly ate.

With their stomachs happy, the three started planning again. "Why not just sneak in and rip 'im open?" Kaity asked.

"We'll be seen before we get to him." Jack said, "We'll have to wait for Oogie to make his move and be ready."

"Sounds like we're gonna need help, then." Kaity shrugged.

"Why can't we ask the other holidays to help?" Charmy asked, "Since Oogie kidnapped their leaders, wouldn't they want to help free them?"

The older two stopped to look at the bee. Jack had no idea how the other holidays were like or how they would even react. Kaity, on the other hand, got a good laugh from imagining an army of angry leprechauns attacking the three little brats that had shoved her down a narrow pipe. "Yer a genius, Charmy."

Charmy smiled brightly, "Thanks!"

"Do you think they'll be okay with this?" Jack asked, looking very concerned.

"Hey, Halloween and Christmas already had it out; no holidays are any more opposite than that." Kaity snorted.

"And it's to save their leaders!" Charmy said. "Of course they'll help!"

Jack smiled, though it seemed a bit forced, "Alright; its late now so how about first thing tomorrow we go to the Holiday Doors and ask for help?" The two mobians nodded in agreement, having just then realized the time. "Oh, and before I forget; the townspeople seemed to have taken a shine to you two," He handed the duo a wristlet designed after a pumpkin that looked as though it had been stretched out, "The witches sent over these charms; they're supposed to protect you from mortal danger or damage."

"Neat!" Charmy smiled, sliding the wristlet on and looking it over.

"Yeah, it's pretty cool." Kaity said, admiring her own wristlet.

Jack then handed the two clothes that looked exactly like the ones they had come to Halloween Town in with a Halloween flair to them. "The vampires and Corpse family asked me to give these to you; they thought you would like to wear something besides your costumes.

"Cool!" Charmy unfolded the vest to look; the vest itself was still orange, but the zipper had been changed to black and a small skull in black and red in place of Charmy's signature bee symbol.

Kaity looked her over carefully, the shirt was still baggy and black, but at the middle of the shirt was a red 'X' where her heart would be. The pants were exactly the same as her old ones, except the small black bats sewed into the cuffs of each leg and around the waist band. "What's the material?" Kaity asked, partially dreading the answer, "I've never felt clothes like this before."

"They're made from silk worms and spider webbing." He said with a happy grin.

"Do they die-senter-grate in water?" Charmy asked.

"Disintegrate, Charmy." Kaity corrected him.

Jack seemed to understand after Kaity corrected Charmy, "Oh, no…the silk worms keep it from disintegrating and the webbing makes it softer."

"…Cool." Kaity nodded.

Charmy yawned, "I'm tired…"

Jack nodded, "Yes, tomorrow we'll wake up early and hope the other Holidays will help in stopping Oogie." With that, the Pumpkin King headed up to bed with his guests following close behind him before parting to their own room to sleep.

**Longest non-song chapter yet, yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!**


	18. The Holiday Doors: Part 1

**It's so long Owo;  
So yeah, originally I was going to make one big chapter with all the holidays, but then they started getting long...and I figured I'd just break it down into two chapters...also because two doors were making me nervous. Namely, Thanksgiving and St. Patrick's Day. St. Partick's Day is in this chapter, and, even being the shortest, was the hardest to make...I tried throwing in the Irish slang but I'm not sure how good it is...I just looked up an Irish slang site (meanings are at the bottom) D:  
But yeah, one last thing before you go into the story; I'll be gone for a week as of Friday, I'm still debating on bringing my laptop or not, that'll decide how long it takes to shell out the next chapter. :3 Enjoy.**

Chapter 18: The Holiday Doors: Part 1

The three woke as soon as the Jack-o-lantern sun was in the sky. Kaity and Charmy dressed in the clothes that had been made for them, strapped on the wristlets that had given, and again ate apples for breakfast while Jack ate what he claimed was normal food for Halloween Town.

Not long after, Jack lead his guests back to the Holiday Doors and look at each, still unable to identify the different holidays they represented. "Besides Halloween there are still six doors to check." Jack said, "We'll each take two, we'll cover more ground that way."

"But what if we get lost?" Charmy frowned.

"Yeah, these holiday doors aren't exactly easy ta find." Kaity agreed, crossing her arms.

"Well, it'll take longer, but I suppose we should stick together." Jack said after a moment of thinking. "Sandy may still be a bit upset, so we'll save Christmas for last." Jack looked at the holiday door with a tall red thing with a few white stars and a rectangle of white coming from the top; he had no idea what it was but maybe the mobians would. Jack pointed to the door, "What is that?"

"It's a tree, dumbass." Kaity snorted.

"That's a firecracker." Charmy explained, "They're really noisy and explode. But fireworks are much better they're colorful when they explode."

Jack blinked, as strange as it all sounded, it was unique and…_inspiring_. "Does everything explode that holiday?"

"Yeah, basically." Kaity nodded, "I think it's 'cause when ya shoot a gun it makes a pretty loud noise too, so they make everythin' loud." At Jack's confused look, she added, "It's Independence day…it's usually celebrated by places that broke away from their mother country and started their own…there's usually a war involved, so yeah, guns and stuff."

Jack nodded a bit, "I see…shall we go, then?" Jack opened the door to the hallow tree and peeked inside, he could smell smoke from something, but saw no fire or anything. After another moment, a color but fowl-smelling smoke engulfed the three.

"I hate these things." Kaity coughed, feeling a sudden pull take the three into the tree.

**OoOoO**

Once the three landed, they immediately noticed it was dark and the smell of smoke was stronger.

The skeleton and mobians hurried past a sign made of strings of firecrackers spelling out 'Independence Town' and into the town itself. A thin cloud of smoke blew past them as a crowd of people laying out on blankets, sitting on cars, and some with baskets of food cheered and clapped.

Jack covered his ear holes as something of a screech ripped through the air louder than anything he had ever heard before, followed by a loud explosion and more cheering. Jack looked up at the sky, in time to see the last of the color fade. He looked confused as Charmy cheered with the crowd, noticing no one was startled by the screeching. Two more screeches echoed around them and this time Jack saw the streams to smoke flying into the air and explode into blue and white in the air.

Jack was delighted; he had never seen anything so unique; not even in Christmas Town. Maybe he could find some of these loud things on his way back. He turned to Kaity, "Are these the 'fire works'? He asked.

Kaity nodded, "Just wait 'till the finale."

Jack was eager to get to the next doors to get help in stopping Oogie, but these fire works were so interesting. '_Maybe…maybe the Holidays can wait a little longer…_' Jack thought to himself, sitting on the green grass by the two mobians. The King of Halloween watched with delight and awe as the smoke trails exploded into color at the peak of their journey. Smoke filled the air but it had an almost comforting effect; after ten minutes of watching, there was suddenly an onslaught of color and explosions, Jack could hardly hear Charmy yell 'finale!' over the sounds and the cheers.

The two Chaotix members stood and stretched as the last of the fireworks went off and people began gathering their things to go back home. "Well that was fun." Kaity said, "We've gotta go find they second in command now, right?" she looked at Jack, who nodded.

Jack stood up, not having muscles to stretch waited until his companions were ready. "Only Sandy and I haven't been taken…who would be the second leader of…Independence Day?" He asked.

Kaity shrugged, "I guess the leader changes dependin' on the country, but I guess we should run down ta the firework's launchin' area and ask."

"Yeah, it'll be fun!" Charmy beamed, zipping in the direction the fireworks had flown up from. Kaity and Jack followed quickly.

At the bottom of the hill, what looked like humans in firemen uniforms were packing up their equipment, not noticing the three coming up to them.

"'Scuse me," Charmy started, "We need to talk with your leader." He said.

None of the firemen looked up from their work as they answered, "Sorry, kid, but the leader got kidnapped a while ago." One said, "You should-" He froze as he looked up to who he was addressing.

"Chill, we're not gonna eat ya or anythin'." Kaity said, "And we know where yer leader is, but we need an army ta take down the guy who kidnapped 'im."

The fireman nodded a bit, still in shock of what he was seeing and numbly led the three to another fireman, "C-Chief, these folks wanna talk to you about the leader…"

The chief looked at the three, not seeming at all phased by their appearance, "Well make it quick, that was just a test run for these fireworks, we've got several other brands to test out before anything happens."

"Yer not even freaked out we're a couple giant talkin' animals and a skeleton?" Kaity asked, looking a bit impressed.

"Miss, I'm nearly sixty years old, at this point in my life there isn't much that fazes me."

"Cool then." Kaity nodded, She gestured to the skeleton behind her, "This is Jack Skellin'ton, 'e's the leader of Halloween. Someone from 'is town kidnapped the other holiday leaders in order ta take over all seven holidays. We're tryin' ta get some people together ta help us stop 'im."

Chief looked suspiciously at Jack, who smiled and waved a bit. "Well, he don't look too dangerous…what's this other guy like?"

"He's full of bugs." Charmy answered with a smile.

The chief called another fireman over and talked quietly with him for a while. Jack, meanwhile was looking at the strange objects laying on the ground as he picked one up to inspect it, Charmy spoke up, "That's a firework."

The skeleton looked at it questioningly; he had thought it was just smoke that exploded, but here it had a casing and everything…now if he could just make it work… "How do you set them off?" He asked the bee.

"You're supposed to light the fuse." Charmy said, pointing to a small white string jutting from the bottom of the device.

The chief turned back the them, "Alright, I'll have some of my boys help out. Just call when you need them." He said, eyeing Jack with the firework, "And you be careful with that, these are dangerous."

"Excellent!" Jack smiled, looking at the apparently dangerous thing.

"Right…well, I'll be seeing you three later; I've got work to supervise." He said, leaving with his men and equipment.

**OoOoO**

It didn't take long for the three to find the door back the Halloween Town. Jack had managed to get a few more fireworks from friendly people within Independence Town and Charmy was eager to light up his sparklers.

But due to their mission, Jack and Charmy dropped their presents at Jack's house and hurried back to the ring of doors, ready to go to the next world.

Kaity made a face at the door in front of them; it was a red-ish door in the shape of a heart. "I hate Valentine's Day." She growled quietly.

"That's 'cause Espio doesn't like you." Charmy giggled, flying out of Kaity's reach as she lunged for him.

"Shut up! I don't love Espio!" She snapped.

"Sure you don't." Charmy grinned.

"What is Valentine's Day?" Jack asked, confused at the reaction, but already had a guess of what it was about.

"It's when couples get all lovey-dovey and shit." Kaity grumbled. "Everyone makes a complete idiot of themselves and guys use it as an excuse to-" the chameleon was cut off as Charmy opened the heart-shaped door. "Charmy!" She hissed, pulling him away.

But it was too late; the smell of chocolate wafted from within the tree and seemed to surround the three, drawing them in.

**OoOoO**

Valentine Town looked like a normal town, except for the hearts and couples everywhere. Buildings were colored white, red and pink. The people were of all different species; Charmy and Kaity even found a few mobians walking around.

One teenage mobian boy froze completely on seeing them. The white fox boy collapsed suddenly as a _Shwoomp!_ went through the air like an arrow releasing from a bow. Kaity laughed, "Oh wow, right in the back." She pointed to an arrow jutting from the boy's back. She walked over, suddenly startled by a second _Shwoomp!_ Hitting where she had previously been. The gilr blinked, but otherwise ignored it to poke the boy with her foot, "Ya alright, dude?" She asked.

Kaity gasped sharply as the fox was instantly on his feet and had his arms wrapped tightly around the chameleon girl, "Beautiful _and_ caring!" He cooed, "You're just too wonderful, I love you."

Kaity flinched at the hug, now noticing that the arrow did have more of a heart shape to it. Her eyes narrowed at the fox and punched the fox in the stomach, making him double over, "Don't touch me!" she snarled.

The fox smiled up at her, "You're so cute when you're angry." He got a kick in the ribs for his trouble.

Charmy giggled, "Kick him again!"

Jack sighed, pulling the chameleon back before she killed the poor boy, "We're looking for your…second in command." He told the fox, "An enemy of mine has taken your leader and we need help in getting them back."

The boy got to his feet, rubbing his stomach, "Sure…" He smiled and Kaity, "If you give me a kiss."

"I'll give ya a punch." Kaity growled, pulling her fist back and watching the boy flinch away.

"Do it." Charmy giggled, stopping at Kaity's glare.

Kaity grabbed the fox's collar and pulled him close, "Listen," She snarled, "Yer gonna take us ta whoever's runnin' this place right now or I'll skin ya alive, got it?"

The boy blinked and smiled, "Anything for you, my love."

The three followed the white fox boy, who made several attempts at holding Kaity's hand on the way, met with the same response each time: Kaity flinched as soon as she felt the touch and punched the boy.

Several girls giggled and smiled at Jack, who seemed oblivious to anything but his surroundings. thought everything was disgustingly colored, the things sitting in windows and for sale were so different than the dark of Halloween Town; the flowers were alive and colorful, the chocolates were shaped like hearts and adorable animals, and the adorable animals still had their fur and everything instead of skeletons or ghosts.

When the three stopped with their guide by a building in the middle of town with a giant heart on top of the building, the boy turned back to them, "Venus should be inside right now." He leaned over to kiss the girl of the group and was abruptly pushed to the ground. "I'll wait for you out here."

"Yeah, whatever, don't hold yer breath." Kaity growled, leading the other two through big white doors and into a reception area with several sad-looking people in the waiting room. No one looked up as they walked to the reception desk.

"We need ta talk ta Venus." Kaity said, "It's important."

"So is everyone's problem here." The receptionist said, looking up from her red nails as she painted pink hearts on. "I'm sorry, but you'll have to wait your turn."

"It's about Cupid." She said, the receptionist looked up again, now Jack saw several others looking up too, murmuring to each other.

"Oh, right this way." The receptionist stood up quickly and led the three down a hall painted white with red and pink doors in the shape of hearts. A door at the very end of the hall was painted a softer color of purple and was designed as a heart with an arrow through it. The receptionist gingerly opened the door and stepped in with the guests. " ? These three are here to see you…they say it's about Cupid."

"Then please, let them in." A pleasant female voice said. The receptionist nodded to the three as they stepped in, closing the door quickly behind them before returning to her post. The woman, Venus, stood up from her heart-shaped chair and walked over to the three.

Having a closer look at the woman the three could see was an ideal beauty; Perfectly tanned, beautiful hair and the perfect figure. "You're really pretty." Charmy said with a smile.

Venus smiled, "Thank you, young one." The bee smiled shyly and suddenly took an interest in the floor. The woman turned back to the chameleon girl and skeleton, "So, you have information on my predecessor?" She asked.

"Yeah, we do." Kaity answered, crossing her arms, "We know who took 'im but we need an army ta save 'im and the other holiday leaders."

Venus nodded, "I see…" She walked back around her desk and looked at the planner sitting on the desk, "It may take away from preparing Valentine's Day, but I'll give you every available person to help.

"Good…just not that weird fox guy outside."

"You mean Rashn?"

"If that's 'is name, sure." Kaity shrugged.

"It's a shame the arrow missed, you two would have made a nice couple."

Kaity blinked, "Arrow…?" A look of realization was quickly followed by one of anger, "Ya shot that arrow at me?" She snarled, starting toward the woman, but abruptly pulled back by Jack.

"Thank you for your time, Miss. Venus." Jack said, quickly pulling Kaity back, "We'll be in touch."

"Bye!" Charmy waved childishly to Venus, who smiled dazzlingly and waved back in an almost princess way.

**OoOoO**

Once the trio escaped Rashn and his dreams of marrying the chameleon in the trio, finding the Halloween door took a bit of searching, but eventually they ended up back where they started.

'This is getting' really annoyin'." Kaity grumbled, looking at the door next to the Valentine's Day door. Next to it was a green clover.

"St. Patrick's day!" Charmy beamed.

"Great, let's go kick some leprechauns." Kaity grumbled, opening the door.

"Wait, we have to put on green first!" Charmy started before the trio were pulled into the hallow tree.

**OoOoO**

The three landed in a field of green, which Charmy immediately took to, picking a clover, "I got my green!" Charmy said, holding the clover proudly. His eyes then shined with delight as he looked at it, "It's a four-leafed clover!" he squealed, "I'm lucky!"

"Charmy…they're all four-leafed clovers…" Kaity said, picking another at random and showing him the four leafs.

"So…I'm not lucky?" The bee frowned.

"Probably not." Kaity shrugged.

"Awwww…" Charmy frowned.

"Oi! You gurriers get outta the clover fields!" A rough, unmistakable Irish voice shouted, making the three jump. They looked over and Charmy gasped happily.

"It's a leprechaun!" the bee squealed.

"A what?" Jack questioned, looking at the remarkably shot man.

"Supposedly if ya catch one they have ta take ya to their gold and they're tricky." Kaity explained. This one looks like it came straight out of a book.

The leprechaun stood at about Charmy's height if the bee stood on the ground, and thick red hair almost completely lost under a green hat and beard to match the covered most of his face. He wore a green suit to match his hat and a buckle with a green metal clover attached to it.

"Quit gawkin' and get out of there!" The little man yelled. The three visitors quickly obliged. "You're not from 'round here, are you?"

"Nah, we were just mutated recently." Kaity answered sarcastically, getting a glare from the ginger man

"Quite a cheeky little blade." He said, keeping his glare on the girl.

Kaity grinned, "Yer talkin' ta me 'bout little?" The leprechaun growled something and jumped onto the girl, who reflexively put her arms up to defend herself. "Ow! What the hell!? Get off me ya little freak!" Kaity yelled, trying to pull the little being off her. The tiny attacker snarled several words none of the visitors knew, but they knew they must have been rude.

"I think we should make this visit quick." Charmy said quietly to Jack, not daring to go near the angry leprechaun.

Jack nodded and stepped forward, "Excuse me…" He started, getting the attention of Kaity's attacker; his face was now almost as red as his beard. "Um…this is about your leader…I was wondering if there was someone we could talk to about it?"

"That'd be me." The man said, now having Kaity's horn in a surprisingly tight grip and pulling it inward. He paid no attention to the quiet 'ow's coming from the chameleon as he introduced himself. "Call me O'brian." He said, "I'm in charge while Saint Patrick is gone."

"Well, you see, someone from my holiday kidnapped your leader, we need as many as possible to stop him."

O'brian nodded, "Sounds like a bowsie; you got our help, boyo."

Jack nodded, "Thank you Mr. O'brian."

"How do you get all those four-leaf clovers?" Charmy asked suddenly, "Aren't they really hard to find?"

"Bang on, boyo," O'brian nodded, "They are after we spread them around. But if you're lookin' for a lot in one place, Saint Partrick's Town is your only man."

Charmy blinked then smiled, "I have no idea what that meant."

O'brian shook his head, "Nevermind. Just take your hardchaw and we'll be ready to fight when you need us." He answered, finally letting the chameleon girl go and hopping off her back. Kaity growled quietly at the leprechaun but did nothing but go back to the boys she had come with.

**OoOoO**

The three were glad to get back to Halloween Town after what felt like an hour of looking around for the right door and return to the holiday trees.

"I didn't like that little midget." Kaity growled.

"That's because he beat you up." Charmy giggled, darting away and Kaity chased after him.

Jack, on the other hand, looked at the next door; it was an egg with pink frill at the top, yellow dots and a band of yellow in the middle, zig-zagged with a darker yellow. He had no idea what it possibly could have been, but knew his mobian friends would have the answer to his question.

**Yar, slang meanings down here :3**

**Gurrier – Hooligan  
****Blade- girl  
****Bowsie - A useless good for nothing usually a male  
****Boyo - Male juvenile delinquent  
****Bang on - Correct. Accurate  
****Your only man - Something that you can rely on e.g. If you're hungry, a burger's your only man.  
****Hardchaw - Tough Guy**

**See you in a week, peeps :D**


	19. The Holiday Doors: part 2

**Finally finished this, huzzah!  
Right, so for whatever reason people have been asking where this chapter is...well, here it is :D And it wasn't posted earlier because I'm in college now and it demands quite a bit of my time.  
Enjoy :3**

Chapter 19: The Holiday Doors: part 2

"What's this holiday?" Jack asked curiously, looking at the egg door.

"That's Easter." Kaity said, "It's kinda like Christmas, only a rabbit breaks into yer house and leaves a basket of stuff fer ya. Then hides eggs 'round fer ya ta find."

"It's really fun!" Charmy beamed, "Let's go!"

With that, Jack opened the door into the hallowed tree and hopped in with the other two.

**OoOoO**

The three landed just outside the town, marked by a blue egg at least twice Jack's size with 'Easter Town' written in white crayon.

"This is gonna be so cool!" Charmy beamed, buzzing into the town. The air smelled like colored dyes and, in a few places, rotten eggs.

"So where do we find the big guy?" Kaity wondered, looking around at the colorful grass and Easter treats being carted around by bunnies and chicks.

"I dunno, let's ask someone." The youngest of the three said, buzzing off quickly to ask a feathery workers. Jack and Kaity stood where they were, watching the chick point out on direction and pointing right or left after it while talking. Charmy only nodded and listened to the end. The bee thanked the chick once he had finished his directions and flew back to the duo, "He says go that way, take the first right then go all the way up the street and turn left, and then go left again on Cottontail and it should be the first place we see on that street."

The two blinked. "Um…okay…" Kaity answered, surprised the bee had paid attention long enough to catch it all the first time, "Let's go, then."

The trio walked down the cobble stoned streets, following Charmy's instructions exactly until they reached Cottontail road. From just a glance it was easy to see it was an industrial street; factories spewed colored smoke and smells of chocolate, marshmallow, and sugar wafted through the air. The chameleon girl took a hold of the little bee, seeing his mouth begin to water at the sweet smells in the air. "Down, boy." She grinned, pulling the bee toward the building the chick had mentioned in his instructions.

The building they now stood in front of was shaped like a happy white rabbit, its teeth making up the front door and its blue eyes two windows on the top floor. Jack looked in awe at the creature-shaped building; he had never seen a rabbit as anything but dead or a skeleton, this building, and the creatures there, were colorful and vibrant; so full of life and happiness.

"Come on, Jack, we've gotta go talk to Peter Cottontail!" Charmy said, shaking the Pumpkin King from his thoughts as the little bee pulled his hand toward the doors.

"Oh, sorry." Jack apologized, following the two mobians in at a brisk pace. The interior of the building was as colorful as the outside; the walls were pink with a yellow stripe going along it at about Jack's waist, the light fixtures were bright and covered with glass Easter eggs of all colors, and the carpet was green, looking like the fake grass he had seen a few rabbits hurriedly pushing along in a cart.

Rabbits and chicks went by, no one stopping to ask the odd creatures what they were doing there as they wandered the halls, looking for any indication where Peter Cottontail could be. Jack pointed to a door at the end of the hallway they were currently lost in, "That door down there says 'Peter Cottontail'."

"That's it!" Charmy squealed, bulleting down the hall with Kaity on his heels.

"Charmy, slow down! If ya hit the door it's yer own fault!" She yelled after him.

Sure enough, the bee ran into the door, despite his best efforts to stop himself. After a moment, a white rabbit peeks out carefully, "Hello?" he looked down at the little bee rubbing his helmeted head and the older two accompanying him. The rabbit opened the door farther, "Can I help you?" He asked, seeming more relaxed than when he opened the door.

Jack noticed the creature wore a worn green coat with a gold watch sticking out of a picket and a chain connected. The skeleton smiled brightly and put out a hand to shake, which the rabbit took. "You must be Peter Cottontail, My name is Jack. Jack Skellington; I'm the leader of Halloween."

"Nice to meet you, Jack." Peter greeted, "What're you doing this far from your holiday?"

"Apparently Jack is the only one who didn't know 'bout the other holidays." Kaity grumbled to Charmy, who giggled in response.

"We're here about your leader, the Easter bunny." Jack explained, "Someone from my world kidnapped him in order to take over the holidays and we need all the help we can get beating him."

The rabbit nodded, "I'll have my Berets join your army whenever they're needed."

"Berets?" Kaity asked

Peter nodded, "They're the best fighters of Easter Town."

Kaity scoffed, "Can't wait ta see that."

Jack elbowed the girl lightly and nodded to Peter Cottontail, "Thank you, we'll be on touch." Peter waved goodbye as the Pumpkin King ushered the bee and chameleon down the hall.

**OoOoO**

Once back in the circle of trees in Halloween Town, Kaity laughed, "'E's gonna send Berets ta help."

"They might be really good!" Charmy pointed out

"Yeah, and a monkey's gonna fly outta my-"

"What kind of bird is this?" Jack asked, pointing to the brown turkey on their next door.

"That's a turkey," Charmy told him, "You eat them on Thanksgiving."

"Why?"

"Because on Earth, when Pilgrims and Indians-"

"Native Americans, Charmy." Kaity corrected.

"Right, and them all had dinner one day they had a turkey and called it Thanksgiving because everyone was happy to have the different foods and friends." Charmy beamed.

"'Least that's what they tell ya when yer under ten years old." Kaity answered, "Really, it was pretty damn tense 'cause both sides were killin', stealin' land and scalpin' each other."

Jack blinked, that was very different than what Charmy had just told him. "….Oh my…"

Kaity shrugged, "Truth hurts. Anyway, let's get this over with." She pulled open the door to Thanksgiving and climbed inside the tree with the bee and skeleton following quickly.

**OoOoO**

As soon as the three landed, Jack noticed the chill in the air; it was not quite as cold as Christmas cold, but not as warm as Halloween Town. Was this somewhere in-between the two?

He looked at the surroundings and noticed the leaves were shades of brown, yellow, red and orange. The sunlight was warm and almost happy despite the nip in the air. His two companions did not seem to enjoy the air as much as he did; Charmy seemed more interested in the people walking around, occasionally stopping to look at them.

Charmy noticed that most of them looked like Native Americans straight from a kid's book with brown clothing no doubt made from animal skins, feathers on bands around their heads and walking bare foot. The little bee pulled on the skeleton's sleeve and pointed to a Native American woman carrying water from the stream that rush by behind them, "That's an Indian, Jack!" He said happily, I bet she knows where to find the town!"

"Native American" Kaity corrected again, following Charmy as he rushed toward the girl.

The woman looked back in confusion at the three creatures and paled at the sight of Jack. "'Scuse me, Charmy said, diverting the woman's attention, "Do you know where Thanksgiving Town is?" He asked with a sweet smile.

The woman smiled back and nodded, directing the three to a huddle of teepees, fires for cooking, and other Native Americans bustling to and fro, men carrying weapons and killed animals and woman carrying young children or cooking food from what their husbands have brought home.

"Cool!" Charmy explained, looking around at the activity in the small area.

"Don't get too excited, Charmy, we aren't stoppin' 'ere." Kaity said, pointing to a sign stuck into the ground surrounded by pumpkins reading 'Thanksgiving Town'. Beyond the sign was a generic town of Pilgrims with small stone and wood cottages, men and woman in clothing with a surplus of buckles and a few fields within the town's walls and turkeys outside of them.

The trio's guide stopped at the threshold of the town and pointed in. The woman chanced another look at Jack, paling again as he smiled a friendly smile at her shortly before she hurried away.

"She seemed nice." Jack beamed, not noticing the facepalm from Kaity.

"Whatever, let's just find the top guy and get outta 'ere." The chameleon grumbled, looking around the scene and stopping two pilgrims, one carrying a Smoothbore musket and the other a Blunderbuss. "Where can we find yer head guy?" She asked, gesturing to Jack, "This is Jack Skellin'ton, 'e's the leader of Halloween and we've gotta talk ta yer boss 'bout yer Holiday King."

The duo took notice of Jack, and muttered something fearful none of the trio could understand and making the sign of the cross across themselves. Musket pilgrim was the first to speak, wary of Jack's every move. "We'll take you to him."

The two mobians and Pumpkin King followed the two back into the village of teepees and activity to a larger teepee. Inside was a strong-looking man with feathers in his black hair and darkly tanned skin from years of being in the sun. The man's clothing was, like the others, made from animal skins and his necklace made from the sharp teeth of animals. The man stood up as the five entered. He seemed to be a fine specimen of man that made even the chameleon girl, who made a point of avoiding swooning over any human, to blush and smile meekly when the human's eyes went to her.

Next to the man was the same woman who ha lead them to Thanksgiving Town. The two pilgrims told the woman exactly what Kaity had told them and she translated for the occupant of the teepee.

The man seemed to think about this and looked over the three guests, hardly flinching at the sight of the tall skeleton. He stood and raised on hand in greeting, "How." Was all he said.

"How?" Jack repeated, confused, "How what?" Kaity elbowed the Pumpkin King sharply. The tall skeleton rubbed his arm "Oooow…"

"Not 'ow', Jack; 'how'." Charmy corrected, not noticing that his fellow detective had hit the skeleton, "It's how they say 'hi'."

"Oh…well, how to you too." Jack said, quickly recovering from his minor wound. The two mobians repeated the greeting.

The man smiled a bit and turned to the woman, speaking in a language none of the three could understand. She then turned to them, looking a bit nervous, "The chief asks if you are here to take him beyond." She asked, her English a bit broken, and few pauses to be sure she was using the correct words.

"…Ya mean Jack?" Kaity gestured back to Jack Skellington, "Nah, we know where yer Holiday Leader is, but we're gonna need some help gettin' 'im free…assumin' the turkey's a 'e."

The woman looked a bit bewildered by Kaity's words, the chameleon wasn't sure if it was because of the mention of their leader or her way of talking. Charmy repeated what Kaity told them and the woman nodded, repeating this to the chief in their language.

The chief nodded and said something to the woman, who nodded in turn and looked back to the trio. "The chief will lend you any of our fighters you need. He asks if you need them now."

"Not yet," Charmy answered, "but soon." Then he added, "Is that Squasho?" He pointed to the chief.

Kaity cuffed Charmy in the head, "It's 'Squanto', Charmy."

"Right, is that him?" the bee asked again, not much effect thanks to the helmet he always wears.

The woman nodded," It is…he is our chief."

Charmy nodded, "That's what I thought, thanks." Charmy beamed, heading out with his two companions back to the circle of doors.

**OoOoO**

"All that's left is Christmas." Jack declared, "I just hope Sandy isn't still upset with me…"

"Why would he? He's Santa Claus." Charmy answered with a smile, "He's always nice!"

Kaity rolled her eyes, "Yer stupid, ya know that, Charmy?"

"Am not!"

"Are too."

"Shut up!"

"Ya shut up!"

"Excuse me," Jack cut in meekly, "Could we please go? We just need to talk with Sandy and we're done."

Kaity and Charmy glared at each other but nodded, following Jack through the door to Christmas Town.

**OoOoO**

The first thing the three noticed as they landed was that Christmas Town was a disaster with abandoned carts of toys, candy, decorations, and Christmas pastries, small elves running around frantically, all screaming the same phrase, "Santa is gone! Santa is gone!"

**So yeah, I'm pretty damn nervous about Thanksgiving since I went back to the stuff I learned as a kid. I'm not sure what others learned, but I learned everything was A-okay between them...then I learned the truth D:  
Also, decided 'screw the polls' because I completely forgot what my plan of Charmy's bit in _Don't I know you?_ so that'll have to wait a while. Sorry...In the mean time, I'll probably work on the Travel series or something else. I really don't know yet...and I don't know when I'll be able to update _Nightmare Before Chaotix_ again, but I know it probably won't be as long as these last two chapters...and probably not soon...or it may be. I dunno.**


	20. Off To Find Oogie

**So yay, new update :D You can all thank a power-outtage for it.  
Also, since for whatever reason people seem to actually _like_ Kaity, you can check out another story about her and an epic scientist named Mince Marvelo that belongs to a close friend of mine :D It's a story under the username Kaity-Misty; there's only one chapter for now, but we're proofreading the others and will be posting them soon (It's a lotta chapters too :x ).  
But yar, enjoy the story :D**

Chapter 20: Off To Find Oogie

"Oh dear, we're too late." Jack said, starting in a full run toward the house that belonged to the Father of Christmas with Kaity and Charmy quick on his tail. The house, as the two detectives expected, was almost completely destroyed inside; tables and furniture had been overturned, knickknacks were shattered on the ground and other signs made it obvious there had been a struggle.

"Oh, Jack, thank goodness you've come!' Mrs. Clause cried, waddling over to the trio. "I have no idea what happened. I came back from feeding the reindeer, as I always do, and the house was an absolute mess!"

"This is horrible," Jack groaned, "I'm the only person standing between Oogie and having every Holiday Leader captive."

"Yeah, but that gives us the edge." Kaity said, "Assumin' Oogie _did_ kidnap Santa."

At Jack's confused look, Charmy chimed in, "Yeah! And we're detectives so we can find out if it was him!"

"Detectives?" Mrs. Clause seemed surprised and impressed, "But you're both so young…I think…" The last part was added quieter than the rest, but the mobians caught it anyway.

"Yep, I'm six!" Charmy said proudly, "And Kaity's fourteen."

"_Anyway_," Kaity started, shoving the bee away from her, "Charmy and I can take a look 'round if ya'll let us. See who took yer husband."

"Oh, could you?" Mrs. Clause asked in a relieved tone, "Thank you so much!"

"Yeah, whatever. Ya haven't touched anythin', right?"

"Not at all."

"Good. Stay 'ere with Jack, we'll take a look 'round."

At that, the two detectives walked farther into the room and silently surveyed the room. "They didn't go any farther than this room." Charmy told his companion, "This room is the only one that's messed up."

"So Santa must not be a good fighter." Kaity noted with a hint of amusement, "Or 'e can't take on three kids." She added, picking up a discarded, or perhaps dropped, orange and black lollipop. "Wasn't that skeleton kid eatin' somethin' like this before?" She wondered out loud, poking the lollipop's center. Her glove stuck for a moment before releasing. "It's still wet, so they can't be too far." She added, tossing the candy down.

"They must have gone back to Halloween town." Charmy said.

"But we don't know that."

"If I may…?" Jack interrupted, getting the two mobians' attention, "We could follow their footprints in the snow."

Charmy shook his head, "There are too many footprints out there, it'd take a while to find theirs specifically."

"Unless they had some kinda recognizable mark on the bottom of their shoes." Kaity shrugged.

Jack's skeleton face configured into a frown and shook his head, "They don't have anything like that…We have to assume they went back to Oogie's hiding place to put Sandy with the other leaders."

The Detectives nodded, "And since we know he's coming for Jack next, we'll be ready for them!" Charmy said.

**OoOoO**

The trap was set; the detectives directed Jack to stay locked up in his house, as a knowing victim would. Once Oogie's boys came to kidnap him, the bee and chameleon girl would be there, waiting for them. The King of Halloween did as he was told, trusting that the two visitors knew exactly what they were doing. The skeleton occupied his 'worrying' time by catching up on reading and other such activities.

It took a few hours, the Lock, Shock, and Barrel did sneak over to Jack's mansion home and find a way into the home supposedly undetected.

As the trio quietly approached Jack's reading chair, which only showed his leg and foot resting on the other as he read, clearly interested in what was on the paper/ however, the trio was the one being sneak attacked as Charmy and Kaity pounced from the shadows, knocking Lock and Shock, the two biggest threats, to the ground. Jack caught hold of Barrel as he bolted for the door. "Going so soon?" Jack asked.

"We're really sorry, Jack," Shock said, looking up at the Pumpkin King with big eyes, "It's nothing personal."

"Yeah, we're just following orders." Lock added in a pitiful voice.

"Save it." Kaity snapped, kicking both kids warningly, "Take us ta Oogie and maybe I won't hurt ya."

"You? Hurt us?" Lock laughed, which abruptly ended as the she-ninja broke a nearby broomstick in half.

"I'm mobian. Don't even try ta test me." She growled.

The devil-dressed child winced but said nothing more.

"Are you gonna show us or not?" Charmy asked, trying to sound as tough as his companion looked.

"Fine!" Shock growled quietly, "Get offa me and we'll show you."

"And no tricks." Jack warned. Kaity grinned and punched a fist into her open palm; a warning of what was to come if the kids tricked them.

The kids gulped quietly, standing as they were let up and lead the three in the direction of Oogie's lair.

**OoOoO**

It was a bit of a walk outside the town, but eventually the children lead the skeleton and detectives to what could only be described as a holiday dump; hearts that never quite made it to Valentines day, discarded old or torn Pilgrim hats and faded feathers, clovers of less than four leaves, clovers of more than four leaves, and more symbols of the holidays that were rejected for one reason or another.

"This place is a dump." Kaity noted, looking around.

"No kidding." Charmy said, pocketing a sixteen-leaf clover, just in case it was four times as lucky as a four-leaf clover.

"Why would Oogie come back here?" Jack wondered, recalling that he and Oogie had finished their final battle in that very place in Oogie's last attempt to take over the Seven Holidays.

Barrel shugged, "We dunno, we just follow orders."

"Not surprisin'." Kaity muttered.

The trio of children came to an abrupt halt by a pile of pumpkins and eggs that had long since spoiled. They moved the perishables aside to reveal a hole just big enough to fit an ordinary human man thought with little problem.

"Let's go!" Charmy said, darting toward the hole.

Kaity pulled him back abruptly, "Hang on, Charmy." She said, "We're not goin' in."

"You're not?" Barrel looked confused.

"No, we're not." Jack shook his skull, "You tell Oogie we're ready to fight him in a winner-take-all battle. His army against ours, and whoever wins takes the Seven Holidays as the prize."

The children grinned wickedly and looked at each other, "He'll like that." They said in unison, scampering down the tunnel to inform their boss.

"Hopefully this all works out." Kaity muttered, starting back to Halloween Town with Charmy Bee and Jack Skellington.

"It will work." Jack said confidently, "It has to work…it just _has_ to."

**Yeah, may not update again for a while. I've got finals next week and I'd like to get a lot of my Deviantart stuff finished up before I do anything else DX  
In the meantime, check out the story in the Kaity-Misty account and stalk Misty! :D She's an epic artist on DeviantArt!**


	21. The Final Battle

**Flakey ending is super flakey :P**

**So yay, finally finished this...after what; two or three years?  
Enjoy :3**

Chapter 21: The Final Battle

It took less than a day for Oogie to send his boys back with a response to Jack's challenge. It was agreed that they would meet the next day in the Hinterlands at noon.

"They're gonna cheat, you know…" Charmy said as soon as the kids were gone.

Jack nodded, "I would be surprised if Oogie actually fought fair." He headed toward the Hinterlands, Kaity and Charmy on his heels, "We'd best get everyone together tonight and be ready for anything."

The two detectives nodded and followed Jack through each door, each time coming back with more people.

**OoOoO**

Just as the Pumpkin King had predicted, a mass of corrupt monsters and creatures attacked at midnight, but the Seven Holidays army was ready and met them halfway.

As far as Charmy or Kaity could see, the battle between Oogie and the rest of the holidays was a mess of fists, rotten eggs, musket fire, and other such things. Even the citizens of Halloween Town had rallied for the battle.

The battle had been going for at least two hours and both sides were losing fighters, but it was quickly becoming obvious that Oogie's forces were either stronger or faster to bring in new recruits. The only redeeming fact was that the Seven Holidays army was gaining ground quickly.

"It's getting much too dangerous for you two here." Jack said to the mobians, using Soul Robber to destroy a corrupt skeleton.

"Please, we fight worse all the time." Kaity snorted.

"Yeah, we'll be fine!" Charmy insisted, dodging away from a flying bone.

"You two have already done so much to help…I can't put you in anymore danger." The skeleton insisted.

"Jack;" Kaity growled, "We're helpin' whether ya want us ta or not." Charmy nodded in agreement to the statement.

Before Jack could protest further Sally made her way over to the trio, "Jack, Oogie's forces are pulling back again…should we follow them?"

Jack Skellington seemed to have a moment of realization over something and nodded, "Yes, follow them. But tell the others to be careful, for all we know, there may be a trap waiting for us."

The ragdoll nodded and ran to tell the others.

**OoOoO**

Once their army caught up with Oogie, the battle went on. While no one else cared to know where in the Hinterlands they were, Jack knew they were close to the Holiday Doors.

Jack's army was slowly losing ground to Oogie's forces and as they fought to regain the ground, no one noticed Jack sneak back to the Holidays Doors and quietly open one just as Oogie's army had pushed them back to the area. Not long after this, both detectives felt a boney hand grab them and drag them off toward the doors.

With surprising strength, the two were thrown through the door, left falling and staring at the quickly shrinking form of Jack. He said nothing, but his expression clearly read 'I'm sorry'.

Charmy screamed for the skeleton man before he was suddenly replaced with a dark sky, followed immediately by both blacking out after impact on the ground.

**OoOoO**

Charmy woke up, sitting straight abruptly, "Jack!" He yelled suddenly, making both Vector and Espio jump. The little bee realized the two reptiles were there and looked around, also realizing he was sitting in a hospital bed with Kaity in one next to him, still out cold.

"Are you alright, Charmy?" Vector asked, approaching the bee, "You guys were lucky to get out of that house alive."

The bee tilted his head to the side, "House…?" suddenly the memory of the Jensen house and Malice came rushing back; after days in Halloween Town, he had forgotten what had sent them there.

"You should have waited for us." Espio scolded, "If we had not seen the smoke coming from that direction, we never would have thought to go after you. The house was burned down by the time we got there."

Charmy blinked, "S…so where did you find us?"

"In the backyard." The green croc answered.

"Where you assumedly went so Malice wouldn't see you escape." Espio added.

"Well yeah, we did, but then we found this tree with a pumpkin on it and there was a town inside!" Charmy said, "We had to help their leader Jack beat the boogie man, only the boogie man was made of bugs and a bag and he had three little henchmen that kidnapped Jack and we had to save him! And then they were all fighting Oogie Boogie's army but then Jack pushed us through a tree and we got sent back!"

Vector smiled and patted Charmy, "You had a rough day, kiddo. Get some rest, okay?"

The bee could tell neither reptile believed his story. "But it really did happen!" He insisted, "Ask Kaity!"

As if on cue, the female woke up, groaning quietly, "What the hell hit me?" She grumbled. She looked around and noticed the others, "Where are we?"

"In the hospital." Espio replied, "After that fire, we wanted to make sure you and Charmy were okay." He said. His tone got more serious, "What were you thinking; going out to face Malice with Charmy? You both could have been killed."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Kaity said, waving off the scolding, "Where's Jack? What happened ta the others?"

"What others?"

"The ones from Halloween Town and all the other holidays."

Espio and Vector blinked, looking at one another. "You two must've had the same dream or something." The croc said. "Get some more sleep; once you're thinking straight, see what you can remember."

The chameleon girl looked shocked at this, "_What_? You think I'm lyin'?" She growled.

"Of course not." Espio answered, "You're just confusing reality with fantasy."

"But we were attacked there! Look!" She put out her arm that had been burned during their fight with Firey and Icy. It had been bandaged, of course, but there was no denying it was there, "Some fire monster burned me! How do ya explain that?"

"Kaity," Espio said seriously, "You were in a burning house. It's possible you got burned at some point between the fire starting and you escaping."

Kaity blinked, being unable to come up with any other proof to give the reptiles.

"Just get some rest, okay?" Vector said, "If you need anything, we'll be back after a little bit."

"Where are you going?" Charmy asked.

"To the food court. We ran straight to that old house when we got your note and saw the smoke; we haven't eaten all night."

Kaity raised an eye ridge, "Wait a minute, how long've we been gone?"

Vector shrugged, "You didn't exactly time stamp your note, so I'm gonna guess a few hours."

Charmy and Kaity looked at each other; they had been in Halloween Town for _days_ and they had been found in their real world only a few hours later.

"Anyway, you two rest." Vector repeated, heading out the door with Espio.

Once they were alone, Charmy sighed and fiddled with his hospital gown, "They don't believe us…" he mumbled.

"No shit." Kaity answered, stretching a bit, "But it must've happened. It was way too real not ta."

"Yeah…" Charmy looked over and Kaity and gasped, "Kaity, look!" He cried, pointing at her arm.

"What?" Kaity glanced at her arm, seeing the pumpkin wristlet the witches had made for her. The chameleon looked and the bee still had his as well. She grinned, "So if we still have these…" Kaity slipped out of bed and went over to her clothes lying folded on a chair; the shirt was still baggy and black, but at the middle of the shirt was a red 'X' where her heart would be. The pants were exactly the same as her old ones, except the small black bats sewed into the cuffs of each leg and around the waist band. Her clothes from Halloween Town she had been wearing just before Jack pushed them through the tree.

Charmy flew over to his vest and looked at it; the vest was orange, but the zipper had been changed to black and a small skull in black and red in place of Charmy's signature bee symbol.

The two grinned at each other, having their small souvenirs from the adventure.

But would Espio or Vector believe them? Even with this evidence?

"Whaddya say we keep this ta ourselves?" Kaity asked.

Charmy nodded, "Our little secret." Charmy climbed back into bed, "Maybe we'll find a way back someday and find out why Jack made us leave."

"If 'e's even still alive." Kaity responded, crawling back into her bed and laying down to sleep.

Charmy laid down, but did not go to sleep; instead, he remembered all his adventures with Jack and, more importantly, how he had helped solve the mysteries that he and Kaity faced while in Halloween Town.

**So yeah, finally getting inspiration back, but I'm also starting the next semester. The only reason this chapter got written was because thanks to a severe weather warning, I couldn't drive to school today. So it may be a while until _Star Chaotix_ is updated. Or it might not; it all depends on my workload and inspiration.**


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